TV 2 reports that three women developed flesh-eating bacterial infections after caesarean sections at Sjællands Universitetshospital in Roskilde and at Hvidovre Hospital, and that two of them have now come forward.
According to reporting by TV 2, Sanne List and Christina Sødal Wolter contacted the broadcaster after it described the case of 40-year-old Sabrina Pommer. Pommer was in life-threatening danger in 2024 after a caesarean at the Roskilde hospital. TV 2 says it has seen the women’s medical records and their compensation and complaint files, with their consent.
Sanne List gave birth by caesarean at the same Roskilde hospital about two months before Pommer. She was sent home after five days despite having a fever, and 20 days after the birth she had emergency surgery. Her appendix and dead tissue were removed, and she was transferred in an induced coma to Rigshospitalet, which removed her fallopian tubes and part of her uterus and bladder.
Christina Sødal Wolter gave birth by caesarean at Hvidovre Hospital on May 6, 2026, and was operated on for the infection ten days later. She lost her uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes. Her partner, Nichlas Kento, told TV 2 that the family called the hospital on May 13 about severe abdominal pain, and that she was only readmitted on May 15.
What doctors and the hospitals say
Lars Bjerrum, specialist and professor at the University of Copenhagen, told TV 2 that the cases show it can happen, and that the pattern is conspicuous. Ole Hyldegaard, professor and senior consultant at Rigshospitalet, said the condition is extremely rare after caesareans and warned against concluding that it happens often. He noted that regional guidance requires suspected cases to be transferred to Rigshospitalet.
In a written reply, Sjællands Universitetshospital said the diagnosis can be hard to detect early because symptoms vary. The hospital added that its department for gynecology, pregnancy and birth has had no cases since the named patients. Helene Westring Hvidman, chief physician in obstetrics at Hvidovre, said confidentiality and the pending cases prevent her from commenting on the specific course of treatment.
Figures from Sundhedsdatastyrelsen, cited by TV 2, show 835 people were hospitalized with necrotizing soft-tissue infections between 2021 and 2025, peaking at 245 in 2023 and falling to 165 in 2025. Danske Regioner announced new national and regional guidelines on the condition in 2022. In its earlier October 2026 report, TV 2 Kosmopol wrote that Pommer had an infection count above 400 and underwent six operations in just over a week.
What this means for internationals giving birth in Denmark
Danish patient information site Sundhed.dk and the Patienthåndbogen describe early signs as mild redness, swelling, a feeling of heat and possibly blisters over a painful area of skin, with strong pain in the affected area. Treatment is hospital admission for rapid surgery and high doses of antibiotics. Understanding how healthcare escalation works matters here, because TV 2 reports that Kento’s family saw alarming blood test values themselves on the MinSundhed app after the hospital did not call.
Two separate bodies handle cases like these, and the names are easy to confuse. Patienterstatningen decides only whether a patient has a legal right to compensation, for example if the injury goes beyond what a patient must reasonably tolerate as part of treatment. It found that this applied to Sanne List, although her complaint to Styrelsen för Patientklager was not upheld.
Styrelsen for Patientklager, by contrast, assesses the treatment itself and can issue criticism of a hospital. Christina Sødal Wolter has brought her case to both bodies, and TV 2 writes that an answer may take around half a year. For foreign residents using Danish public hospitals, those two tracks run independently of each other.
