A 64-year-old doctor who also served as a court-appointed expert witness has been charged with 307 counts of accepting bribes, in the form of both cash and brand-name liquor. A court ordered her held in pretrial detention for three months, Provincial Police Headquarters spokesman Chief Inspector Piotr Wojtunik said Thursday.
The doctor was detained by officers from the Anti-Corruption Division of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Rzeszów as part of an investigation overseen by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Rzeszów.
Wojtunik said Thursday morning that the 64-year-old doctor, who headed a department at one of Rzeszów’s hospitals and also worked as a court-appointed expert, is suspected of accepting financial benefits in connection with her positions.
She allegedly accepted brand-name liquor, or between PLN 50 and PLN 300, from the guardians of her patients in exchange for starting treatment or admitting the patients to her department. She also allegedly falsified patients’ medical records and reporting documents, then submitted that paperwork at other medical facilities as billing for health services she had performed that were reimbursed by the National Health Fund (NFZ).
The doctor allegedly made the scheme a regular source of income.
“In addition, using her office at the hospital, she saw patients both under her contract with the NFZ and in private appointments. For the private appointments, she bore no costs for renting or maintaining the office, and in this way obtained financial benefits,” Wojtunik said.
He added that the doctor also allegedly reported private appointments at other medical facilities as having been carried out under her NFZ contract, in order to obtain reimbursement.
The police spokesman stressed that investigators have gathered evidence that fully confirmed the criminal scheme the doctor is alleged to have carried out.
The woman was detained on Monday and taken to the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Rzeszów, where she was charged with 307 counts of corruption. Officers searched her medical office and the vehicles she used to secure documents and other items that could be relevant to the ongoing investigation.
Wojtunik said it is possible that the doctor will face additional charges.
She faces up to eight years in prison for the offenses. (PAP)
