In the trial for the death of a diabetic student during a school trip, the two accused teachers were sentenced to a fine for manslaughter. The fines for the two women, aged 34 and 60, are 7,200 euros and 23,400 euros respectively. Then 13-year-old Emily died of a heart attack due to extreme hyperglycemia during a school trip to London in 2019. She had had diabetes for several years and had been using an insulin pump.
Before the trial began, the prosecutor assumed that Emily’s death could “most likely” have been avoided if she had received medical attention sooner. Classmates said they drew teachers’ attention to Emily’s poor condition several times, but that teachers only checked on her 13-year-old on the day she left. “Emily was vomiting every ten minutes,” said a classmate in the Mönchengladbach courtroom. With this knowledge, according to the prosecution, the teachers could have recognized the girl’s symptoms of acute hyperglycemia and reacted before her.
The prosecutor accused the teachers of manslaughter by omission. They did not adequately fulfill their obligation to obtain an overview of possible student illnesses when preparing for the trip. That’s why they didn’t know about Emily’s diabetes. The girl herself had probably neglected the necessary blood sugar measurements and addition of insulin during the trip.
