![\"Team](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2_GettyImages-89635730.jpg\")
The neurosurgeon brought her daughter into the operating theatre (stock image)(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\nThe brain surgeon is accused of allowing her 12-year-old daughter to drill a hole in the skull of a man who was being operated on for a traumatic brain injuryThe neurosurgeon brought her daughter into the operating theatre (stock image)(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
A neurosurgeon has been arrested after she allegedly let her 12-year-old daughter drill a hole in a patient’s skull during an operation<\/a>.<\/p>\n The incident happened on January 13, 2024, when a 33-year-old man was rushed to Graz Regional Hospital in Austria <\/a>with a traumatic brain injury after a serious accident. The surgery, carried out by a senior physician and another doctor, was assisted by the trainee neurosurgeon <\/a>who brought her daughter into the theatre.<\/p>\n As the operation drew to a close, prosecutors say the woman handed her daughter the drill, letting her make a hole for the probe. Prosecutor Julia Steiner told Austrian news outlet Kurier that the surgeon then boasted that her daughter had just had her first gynecological hysterectomy.<\/p>\n READ MORE: ‘Beautiful’ boy, 4, dies days after developing cough during national outbreak<\/a>READ MORE: Predator guilty of raping young doctor was caught performing sex act in court<\/a> The case emerged after a series of anonymous complaints. Although the surgery itself was successful, Steiner said the alleged incident showed “an incredible lack of respect for the patient” and stressed the potential for danger “cannot be downplayed”.<\/p>\n Defence lawyer Bernhard Lehofer insisted the girl never actually drilled, claiming the doctor overseeing the surgery kept full control of the instrument. He said: “The child did not drill,” adding that while it was “not a good idea” to take her daughter into the operating room, the woman has now paid for this mistake for almost two years.<\/p>\n Attorney Michael Kropiunig, representing the doctor, added that his client was unaware of the girl’s exact age, saying: “He allowed her to put her hand on his hand while he was operating the drill, but that’s not relevant in criminal proceedings.”<\/p>\n The neurosurgeon and doctor appeared at Graz-East District Court on Tuesday and both pleaded not guilty to minor bodily harm.<\/p>\n The doctor told how his colleage left the theatre to make a phone call at the end of the operation when the youngster asked if she could help. He claimed he got her mother’s permission before allowing her to place her hand over his as he guided the drill.<\/p>\n The mum claims her daughter asked to join her in the operating room after spending the day studying in an on-site office. She said she allowed her daughter to watch, but did not see the moment the drilling happened in clear detail. “I was standing in the back and was distracted,” the mother reportedly said.<\/p>\n Asked why she put pressure on her doctor colleague to stay quiet when the reports emerged, the woman said: “I wanted to protect him.” The head of neurosurgery at the hospital, Stefan Wolfsberger, was alerted to the incident through an anonymous letter. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said.<\/p>\n The case has been postponed until December 10 as experts prepare to speak in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brain surgeon is accused of allowing her 12-year-old daughter to drill a hole in the skull of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2207,12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-500180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-hospitals","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115375485371454021","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Surgical](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_Surgical-team-in-operating-theatre.jpg\")
Prosecutors have accused the woman of allowing her daughter to drill (stock image)(Image: Getty Images\/Science Photo Library RF)<\/p>\n