Former Bundesliga player wins in court as he fights for life

After a near nine-year-long saga, former Croatia and Werder Bremen striker Ivan Klasnic had it confirmed on Friday that he will receive 100,000 euros ($107,000) in compensation because his kidney disorder was misdiagnosed.

Klasnic, now 37, underwent two transplants in 2007 but now needs another because the donor organ from his father has not been functioning properly since September 2016. Klasnic requires dialysis three times a week.

The district court in Bremen stated that former Bremen team doctor Götz Dimanski and intern Manju Guha should have diagnosed Klasnic's kidney problems and treated them before they were revealed through an appendix operation in 2005. The judge stated that the pair had been "grossly negligent" and both made mistakes that "objectively were not comprehensible for a doctor to make."

Hope for more comfort

Both doctors must now pay all past and future treatment costs. Klasnic has also been given the chance to seek compensation for loss of earnings.

"I hope that I get a new kidney soon and that I can enjoy my life without discomfort," Klasnic recently told German public broadcaster NDR. "I think God has written our paths. I have to accept the situation as it is."

Klasnic played at Bremen between 2001 and 2008, even winning the Bundesliga and a German Cup double in 2004. The striker also played in Germany for Mainz and St. Pauli, as well as in the Premier League with Bolton and in France with Nantes. Klasnic won 41 Croatia caps, and was also the first footballer to play in an international tournament after a kidney transplant - appearing and twice and scoring for Croatia at the 2008 European Championship in Austria and Switzerland.

jh/pfd (dpa, SID)