Nazi symbols outlawed in Germany
Photo: AP
A surgeon stormed out of an operating room after noticing Nazi symbols, including a large swastika, tattooed on his patient's arm, German magazine Suddeutsche Zeitung reported on Monday.
"I cannot operate on this man, I am Jewish," the doctor told the medical staff minutes before the surgery was about to begin.
Nazi Memorabilia
Associated Press
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The medical team was forced to call in another surgeon and the operation was successfully completed.
The Jewish doctor, 46, told the magazine "my conscience did not allow me to operate on people with neo-Nazi ideologies."
Following the incident, the patient's family called to dismiss the doctor, claiming he broke his physician's oath. However, the German physicians association sided with the doctor.
"We received phone calls from many citizens who expressed their support for the doctor's courage, and we support him too," the association's chairman was quoted as saying.
German law forbids the use of Nazi symbols and the Nazi salute, and those who publicly break the law face a maximum punishment of three years in jail.
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