A gynecologist working in Filiates hospital was sentenced to a two years in prison for accepting a 300 euro bribery, or “fakelaki” (envelope) as the Greeks call it, in order to perform an unnecessary surgery to a 83-year old woman, who was healthy.
The Criminal Court sentenced the 58-year-old gynecologist to two years imprisonment with suspension and a 5,000 euro financial penalty. Many questions arose as the hospital’s administration didn’t even appoint a lawyer to handle the case and the prosecutor in charge made a proposal to acquit the defendant due to doubts.
According to Greek news, the hospital’s director, Spyros Dermezis, stated that “the hospital was not an adverse party; thus the hospital’s law department informed us that we didn’t have to attend the trial.”
The gynecologist had been known to the Greek authorities from previous cases of stealing money from the public sector, transferring illegal immigrants and smuggling. He was also involved in an unsolved case of shooting an Albanian under peculiar circumstances in the past. Before his arrest for this case, he accused his colleagues for bribery and sent threatening letters to the hospital’s administration employees.
The 83-year-old woman was asked for the amount of 300 euros to be treated for intra-vaginal papillary tumor, but couldn’t afford it and called her son in Athens. Her son then filed a complaint to the hospital’s administration office and informed the Greek police.
After the incident the woman was transferred to another hospital, where doctors stated that her the surgery was not the proper treatment for her and treated her with medicine instead.
The incident was revealed last September and since then the gynecologist is on compulsory lay-off, as initially decided by the hospital’s director and the Greek Ministry of Health.
Source: greece
