(CNN) An Austrian court has fined a surgeon 2,700 euros ($3,050) for mistakenly amputating the wrong leg of a patient.
The 43-year-old surgeon was fined at the Linz Regional Court on Wednesday, with half of the amount suspended, "for committing grossly negligent bodily harm," Walter Eichinger, the court's vice president, told CNN.
On May 18 the surgeon, who was working at a clinic in Freistadt, "carried out an inadequate clarification with the existing medical records and the photo documentation before the operation for the planned amputation of the left thigh and thus marked the right leg for the surgical intervention," said Eichinger on Thursday.
The right thigh was then "amputated without any medical indication," added Eichinger.
The court awarded $5,666 in damages to the widow of the patient, who died before the court date, for reasons unrelated to the amputation.
