A publicly owned hospital in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has fired a pediatric surgeon without notice after she ran unsuccessfully for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in a neighboring state’s local elections.
Dr. Svetlana Spirina, a senior physician in pediatric surgery at Klinikum Lippe in Detmold, appeared on the AfD ticket for Osnabrück’s city council in Lower Saxony’s Sept. 13 vote. While she did not win a seat, the hospital, owned solely by the Lippe district, then dismissed her immediately, the clinic confirmed.
