Belgian doctor suspended for ignoring patient with 30-hour erection

Jun 1, 2010, 23:06 GMT

Brussels - A Belgian court suspended a doctor from practice Tuesday after it found him guilty of negligence in failing to treat a patient whose penis stood erect for 30 hours, local media reported.

The victim was eventually hospitalised. Doctors managed to reduce the swelling, but the trauma left the patient, identified only as X, impotent, Dutch-language tabloid Het Nieuwsblad reported.

Doctor Peter V., 48, 'did not treat patient X adequately' and is therefore 'suspended as a precautionary measure until further notice,' a court in the Belgian town of Courtrai ruled, according to Dutch-language broadcaster VRT.

The case dates back to 2007, when X, who was on multiple medication to treat manic depression, visited Doctor V, complaining of a painful erection which had already lasted 10 hours.

His cocktail of medications had already produced such side-effects in the past, VRT reported.

But Doctor V ordered him to go home and relax, prescribing a simple tranquillizer. Almost 24 hours later, with his penis still erect, X finally took himself to hospital.

There doctors feared that they would have to amputate the offending member, but finally managed to reduce the swelling, Het Nieuwsblad wrote.

X was left impotent and mentally traumatised by the incident, the media said.