Overview

• The Berlin Regional Court plans to deliver a verdict on Friday in a case tied to a January 27, 2020 procedure at an orthopedic practice in Kreuzberg.
• The anesthesiologist is charged with bodily harm resulting in death, with prosecutors alleging he failed to monitor vital signs and missed a respiratory and cardiac arrest for minutes.
• Prosecutors also contend the patient was not properly informed about the risks of general anesthesia or alternatives and that the emergency physician was not fully briefed on events.
• Investigators say the 59-year-old suffered severe brain damage, entered a wakeful coma, and died in late April 2020 of pneumonia without regaining consciousness.
• The defense seeks acquittal, calling the incident a 'blackbox' that cannot be reconstructed and noting the defendant’s roughly 50-year career without prior complaints and his German-Bulgarian citizenship.