Medical professionals under indictment for sexual assault

In a shocking turn of events, the public prosecutor's office in Bielefeld has filed charges against a chief physician, an attending physician, and a nursing service manager at the Evangelical Clinic Bethel. The charges are for negligent bodily harm through omission in several cases.

The accusations stem from the actions of an assistant doctor who is suspected of multiple rapes and was arrested in September 2020. It is alleged that he administered a narcotic to a total of 34 patients without a medical reason between September 2018 and April 2020.

During the extensive investigations, over 100 witnesses were heard, and IT evidence, including videos of the acts, was evaluated. The public prosecutor's office also obtained two expert opinions. However, it did not find evidence that the accused knew about the sexual crimes of the assistant doctor.

The indictment accuses the chief physician, the nursing service manager, and the attending physician of not initiating reinforced control and not reporting the incidents to the management. The attending physician is also accused of not passing on the information about the incidents.

The investigation against the nursing service manager was discontinued due to lack of criminally relevant breaches of duty of care. The Bielefeld public prosecutor's office initially discontinued investigations against the clinic managers in 2021. However, the NRW Ministry of Justice commissioned the Duisburg public prosecutor's office to reopen the proceedings in the autumn of 2021, leading to the recent indictment.

The accused senior employees are said to have had clear indications as early as autumn 2019 that the assistant doctor was gaining access to patients and administering sedating medication without a medical reason. They are also alleged to have known about anomalies regarding anesthetizations but failed to collect, evaluate, and forward necessary information to the management.

The indictment does not cover all cases: incidents involving 25 patients occurred outside the period for which the accused's responsibility could be established. The accused senior employees at the Evangelical Clinic Bethel in Bielefeld are a chief physician, a senior physician employed at the time, and a head of nursing service. Their names have not been disclosed in the search results.

The Regional Court must now decide on the opening of the main proceedings following the filing of the indictment. The case serves as a stark reminder of the importance of diligence and accountability in the medical profession.