Lower Saxony
Trial against parents after the death of their four-year-old daughter
The accused mother is sitting in a room in the district court. After the death of her little daughter, she and her husband have to answer in court. Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
At the beginning of the hearing, the mother reported on the hours before her daughter’s death. On the day of the event, however, she had probably said something different to the emergency doctor.
After the death of their four-year-old daughter, the trial against a 37-year-old and a 36-year-old began on Thursday before the district court in Verden (Lower Saxony). The public prosecutor accuses the parents of bodily harm resulting in death through omission.
The child was born with a so-called hydrocephalus and therefore had a shunt implanted – a tube system with an intermediate valve. According to the results of the autopsy, a defect in the shunt in August 2019 meant that cerebrospinal fluid could not drain. The parents are said not to have brought their child the necessary medical help. The girl died. According to the indictment, the parents in Scheeßel should have called the emergency doctor earlier.
contradictions
At the beginning of the hearing, the mother reported on the hours before her daughter’s death. Accordingly, the child was very tired, she did not notice anything worrying. “Nobody expects the child to wake up in the evening,” she said with tears. “I would have done anything for her.”
The log of her emergency call contradicted this. Accordingly, the woman said when she called desperately: “She’s been so weird all day today” and “She’s been throwing up all day”.
The emergency doctor described the operation as dramatic. The parents were desperate. He quickly knew that he couldn’t save the girl, but resuscitated her for a long time for psychological reasons. If a child with a shunt vomits, all alarm lights should go on, the paramedic said.
According to the presiding judge, there were several problems when the emergency services were alerted. So the mother was initially on hold, then the car with the emergency doctor got lost, and then he is said to have taken the wrong treatment case.