Prosecutors drop Aarhus cancer case again as Pia weighs appeal
Monday 2nd November 2026 on 15:31 in
Denmark
The State Prosecutor in Viborg has ended its investigation into the former leadership of Aarhus University Hospital for a second time, with no criminal case to follow. DR reports that Pia Krog, a cancer patient seeking accountability over treatment delays, is considering another appeal.
The Director of Public Prosecutions sent the case back to police last year after Krog complained. The State Prosecutor has now concluded that the investigation should stop and that there is not enough evidence to bring charges against the hospital’s former leaders.
Krog says she did not expect a prosecution but had hoped one would be brought. “I am not pursuing anyone criminally, but I need responsibility to be assigned. That has not happened,” she said.
She has four weeks to appeal the decision to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Krog said she intends to do so unless her lawyer advises against it. She said she would continue until “the last door is closed” and that she wants to ensure the same thing never happens again.
Krog lives with two stoma bags. The Patient Compensation body has determined that she could almost certainly have kept her bladder, and avoided one of the bags, if her cancer treatment at the hospital had not been delayed by three and a half months. She has received compensation.
The case began after DR reported in 2023 that more than 300 patients at the hospital’s Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery had waited longer than the statutory maximums for treatment, without being offered timely care at other hospitals or abroad. Several senior hospital managers were subsequently dismissed, and Krog reported the hospital leadership to police.
A critical assessment by Kammeradvokaten described unlawful practices and serious errors that it said had been made deliberately. Three hospital employees were investigated on suspicion of abuse of office, dereliction of duty and gross or repeated negligence in their duties. The charges against them have since been dropped.
State Prosecutor Jakob Berger Nielsen said the additional investigation had not produced sufficient evidence that one or more senior individuals had violated the criminal code in managing waiting times for cancer patients. Prosecutors may bring charges only when they consider the evidence sufficient to secure a conviction.