Two ophthalmologists pleaded guilty on Wednesday to reckless and negligent acts, after prosecutors amended the charge sheet, in relation to eight patients who lost the sight in one eye after cataract surgery at a private Nicosia hospital.
The amendment did not change the charge itself but narrowed its particulars. The charge sheet no longer alleges that the doctors caused the blindness by reusing a consumable. It now says only that, by reusing a single-use consumable, they had put “human life at risk, or were likely to cause bodily harm to another”.
The patients had been infected with a multidrug-resistant strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa following surgery in October 2020.
District Judge Pavlos Agapitos set the next hearing for October 29. At that hearing, prosecutor Elena Konstantinou will present the admitted facts, and defence lawyer Marios Spyrou will set out mitigating factors on behalf of the two doctors, who are in their fifties. A further date will then be set for sentencing.
Lawyers for the patients and their families attended the hearing. The patients and families have filed civil claims for compensation.
