2023-06-15 19:43:07
In room 142 of the district court of Cologne, the petite woman with the carefully pinned-up hair and the stocky young man have long since taken their opposite places. But the chamber is a long time coming. The longer she waits, the more strength it seems to take for both of them not to look at each other. Dominik W. is a joint plaintiff. In September 2019 he lost his 28-year-old wife and a little later his son, who was born by emergency caesarean section. According to the conviction of the prosecution, Jutta B., a 52-year-old pharmacist and head of a doctorate, is responsible for this Pharmacy in Cologne, the responsibility.
The glucose tolerance test for pregnant women that Dominik W.’s wife took on September 19 at her gynecologist’s came from her company. Pure routine. But the glucose was contaminated with the local anesthetic lidocaine. The woman collapsed and died – as did her baby shortly afterwards – from multiple organ failure. The public prosecutor’s office is convinced that it was B. herself, who is otherwise not actually involved in the manufacture and filling of medicines, who “carelessly” mixed up two containers in her pharmacy’s laboratory and therefore mistook a residue of lidocaine for glucose. According to the indictment, she poured the remainder into a freshly opened large container with glucose, from which the portions for the pregnant women’s diabetes tests were later taken.
B. did not contact the clinic
The public prosecutor’s office not only accuses B. of negligent homicide, but also accused her of attempted murder by omission. A case of poisoning had already occurred on September 17: another pregnant woman, who fortunately had only taken a sip of the contaminated mixture because the solution tasted strange to her, recovered quickly.
According to the indictment, Jutta B. knew that – and two days later, in the case of Dominik W.’s wife, the doctor from the treating hospital is said to have made her aware of complications at an early stage. The stocks in the pharmacy were then compared and a meeting with the employees took place. B. even took a taste test from the glucose container and found that it tasted bitter, the prosecutor claims. “Now at the latest she recognized the mix-up. She was aware that the type and quantity of the poison was decisive for the medical treatment of the pregnant woman.”
But because she feared losing her license to practice medicine, B. failed to report this to the clinic, which is why the young woman could not be treated with an antidote. “Jutta B. put the continuation of her business above the lives of two people.”
Defense attorney: “Client not responsible”
B. is silent on the serious allegations and lets one of their three defenders speak for themselves on Thursday. His client deeply regrets the death of the woman and her baby. “The case is tragic. But my client is not responsible for the death of mother and child.” The accusation is not plausible. According to the defense attorney, the accusation that B. was guilty of murder through omission was particularly absurd.
The public prosecutor overlooked the fact that the death of the woman and her baby was not used to cover up that Jutta B. had no motive for killing. Rather, the damage to her and her pharmacy from the two deaths is particularly great.
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