In the trial against a pathologist for false diagnoses with fatal consequences, the planned pronouncement of judgment at the Saarbrücken district court was postponed on Wednesday morning. According to a court spokesman, the reason for this is the illness of a lay judge. A new date for the verdict has not yet been set. The 64-year-old from St. Ingbert in Saarland is on trial for manslaughter in two cases - one attempted and one completed.

He is said to have incorrectly ruled out skin cancer in two cases when examining samples in 2019. Doctors and patients had therefore initiated no further medical treatments. One of the two men (born in 1952) died a year later. In the other patient (45), the malignant disease was only detected when the skin changed again in 2020. According to the expert, his prognosis is now significantly worse.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the pathologist was aware that he was unable to comply with specialist medical standards due to addiction and depression. He himself submitted an application for disability in August 2018 and detailed his deficits.