A surgeon in Austria has been dismissed after allegedly allowing his 13-year-old daughter to drill a hole in a patient's skull during emergency surgery.

The incident, which occurred in January at Graz University Hospital, only came to light recently following an anonymous complaint to the prosecutor's office in April.

The patient, who had been involved in a forestry accident, was rushed to hospital via air ambulance.

During the emergency operation, the neurosurgeon's teenage daughter reportedly operated on the patient's skull.

While the patient survived, they spent 11 days in intensive care and remain unable to work.

The individual is now suing for damages, having only learned of the incident from media reports in July.

Peter Freiberger, the patient's lawyer, expressed outrage at the incident.

He said: "You lie there. Unwilling, unconscious, and become guinea pigs.

"There's probably no other way to put it... that's not possible. You can't do that."

Freiberger added: "There was no contact, no explanation or apology, nothing.

"That is simply undignified."

Trauma surgery specialist Manfred Bogner emphasised the severity of the situation, telling Sky News: "A child [should never be] given a drill and allowed to drill away at the bone of a seriously injured person."

He added: "An operating theatre belongs to people who have a job to do there and no one else."

The hospital dismissed the neurosurgeon and another employee without notice on 25 May.