Surgeon from Cluj arrested for 30 days for taking bribes from patients before operations
A senior doctor at the Regional Institute of Gastroenterology Cluj-Napoca has been placed in preventive detention for 30 days, accused of six charges of accepting bribes.
Doctor from Cluj-Napoca arrested for taking bribes from ill patients
A surgeon at the Regional Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Cluj-Napoca has been placed in preventive detention for 30 days, after prosecutors accused him of requesting money from patients in exchange for performing surgical procedures, according to Cotidianul.ro.
Prosecutors at the Prosecutor's Office attached to Cluj County Court have opened a criminal investigation for four counts of accepting bribes and two counts of accepting bribes in continuing form. Investigators documented multiple instances in which the doctor received various sums of money in connection with the performance of medical acts.
Among the cases documented were the receipt of 500 lei, followed by another 400 lei, from a witness, as well as 600 lei from a female patient. The husband of another patient handed the surgeon a sum of 3,000 lei. In another case, the bribe was five euros — recorded in documents as 500 euros — paid in two instalments. In addition to cash sums, the individuals involved paid for his restaurant bill on two occasions.
"The evidence administered demonstrates unequivocally an attitude of commodifying the public medical service for the purpose of obtaining financial benefits (sums of money, products, public catering services)," the Prosecutor's Office stated in a press release.
Prosecutors emphasised that the entire conduct of the doctor was contrary to elementary professional ethics norms, as he exploited the vulnerable state of patients in difficult situations relating to their own health. According to the evidence administered, the practice of accepting bribes was already known among patients.
Even when he did not explicitly request the money, the doctor was in the habit of repeatedly summoning relatives to his office under the pretext of conveying medical information. "The doctor's behaviour of repeatedly summoning relatives to his office under the false pretext of transmitting data concerning the patient's medical situation indirectly induced the assumption that 'they must give something'," the prosecutor's statement read.
Cluj County Court accepted the prosecutors' request and ordered the preventive detention of the medical professional for 30 days. The investigation continues, and the criminal procedural course of the case will be established.
Source: Cotidianul.ro