Twenty-seven operating-room nurses and five anaesthetists at Rigshospitalet have told hospital management that patient safety is at risk after three surgeons were dismissed from Denmark’s only liver transplantation unit.
DR reports that the 27 operating-room nurses sent a new letter of concern to management at Denmark’s largest hospital. In the letter, as reported by DR, they write that they hold patients’ lives in their hands and fear what patients will wake up to.
The letters follow a conflict at the Department of Transplantation and Diseases of the Digestive System. Five senior doctors there warned management in late September about staffing levels and patient safety. Three of them were sent home and have since been dismissed.
Sundhedsmonitor reports that the three doctors were sent home on 8 October and that severance agreements were reached with the hospital on 22 October. According to Sundhedsmonitor, the dismissals have prompted both the Danish Health Authority and the Danish Patient Safety Authority to request accounts of how the specialized service will be maintained.
Anaesthetists add their own warning
Five senior anaesthetists responsible for anaesthesia during liver transplants have also written to management in recent days. They describe serious professional concern about the current and future robustness and quality of liver transplantation at the hospital. DR holds both letters, but none of the signatories would give an interview, citing fear of dismissal.
The department is the only center in Denmark performing liver transplants, and B.T. reports that it also handles pancreas transplants. Two surgeons left voluntarily during the spring and summer of 2026. Rigshospitalet then made an agreement with Oslo University Hospital, under which a Norwegian surgeon took over transplant operations in Denmark.
Both the nurses and the dismissed surgeons describe one specific incident that the surgeons said could have ended fatally. According to the nurses, that episode sharpened their concern about surgical skills, competencies and experience during individual operations.
Authorities and regional politicians step in
Jonas Egebart, director of the Danish Health Authority, has asked Rigshospitalet to guarantee that liver transplants can still be carried out fully safely. The authority decides where highly specialized treatments may be performed in Denmark. The Danish Cancer Society has also sent a letter of concern to the hospital.
Politicians in Region Hovedstaden have called an extraordinary executive committee meeting for Monday, where hospital management must explain the case. In a briefing to the region, management writes that there was lasting and increasing disagreement with the five doctors over the department’s professional and organizational development. Politiken attributes the dismissals to collaboration problems rather than to the warnings alone.
Jannick Brennum, deputy director at Rigshospitalet and head of the Center for Cancer and Organ Diseases, declined an interview with DR. In a written reply he states that patient safety is the hospital’s most important focus and that it can stand behind its treatment of patients. He adds that the hospital is working to hire new specialists and has strengthened cooperation with colleagues in Denmark and the Nordic region.
What it means for internationals relying on specialized hospital care
Everyone with a CPR number and a yellow health insurance card has access to the same public hospital treatment in Denmark. The free choice of hospital does not help with liver transplantation, because the Danish Health Authority has placed this function at Rigshospitalet alone. For foreign residents, that means there is no alternative Danish hospital department to switch to.
Rigshospitalet says it can carry out its treatments in the current situation, while the Danish Health Authority and the Danish Patient Safety Authority have both demanded written accounts. What those reviews conclude, and what Monday’s meeting in Region Hovedstaden decides, is not yet known. Patients and relatives who want to understand referral routes can start with how healthcare in Denmark handles highly specialized functions.
