The medical profession is held in high esteem, perhaps that’s what impostors find attractive about it. In the 1980s and 1990s, Gert Postel, a trained postman, had a respectable medical career that ultimately ended in prison. A few years ago, Denny H. made a name for himself, fake ship’s doctor on the Aida. He was caught trying to put a doctorate on his doctor’s card and his middle name “Cato”.
The fake doctor from Düren does not seem to fit into this series. At least that’s what he told the court in 2016. The father was a successful doctor, as was the uncle, so the pressure was great. So he studied medicine and was about to take his state exam when he realized that two certificates were missing. Then he decided to tell the big lie of his life.
Although: After all, he remained modest, he only wrote a “good” in the false certificate. But then he still produced a doctoral certificate and a paper for the “Specialist in Visceral Surgery”. He received his license to practice medicine, got a job at the Düren hospital and was allowed to operate for six years: inguinal hernia, port implantation, removal of the thyroid gland, a “laparoscopic ileocecal resection” is also listed, you have to go under the abdominal wall. There were no complaints, the operations were only “formally forbidden”, which the judge later dismissed. But she sentenced him to a suspended sentence in 336 cases for bodily harm.
This Tuesday, six years later, the case has a legal aftermath before the Federal Social Court. A health insurance company has sued the hospital in Düren for repayment of a good 30,000 euros for ten treatments. Because the Social Security Code states that medical treatment is provided by doctors. Only they would be remunerated, but not operations by a non-physician, no matter how carefully and flawlessly they may be carried out.
Thyroid gland removed without errors – no problem?
So what matters? That the papers are in order? Or that the medical intervention went smoothly? The social court in Aachen found that the hospital was not to blame for the fraudulent license to practice medicine. And in the end, no measurable damage was caused. Thyroid gland removed correctly, abdominal wall closed correctly – so no problem?
The state social court of North Rhine-Westphalia, the second instance, had a completely different opinion. The man in the white coat “did not commit any medical acts, but physical harm,” the verdict said tight-lipped. Because anyone who operates requires the patient’s consent – which is ineffective if the surgeon proves to be a non-physician. In addition, the hospital itself sued the man for half a million euros; in the end, they agreed on 45,000 euros.
Incidentally, as a prospective doctor, the man had considered the missing certificates to be unimportant at the time. Probably because he believed that it was all about expertise. In retrospect, he would have urgently needed at least one of the certificates – in ethics.