"Diagnosed" brain hemorrhage for $10,000: Kyiv neurosurgeon fabricated diagnoses to obtain disability status. PHOTO
In Kyiv, a 30-year-old neurosurgeon is suspected of preparing fraudulent medical documents that enabled men to obtain disability status and deferment from mobilization. According to investigators, he charged $10,000 for his services, and nearly $115,000 was seized during searches.
Kyiv police and the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office reported this, according to Censor.NET.
According to investigators, the doctor worked in the neurosurgery department of a municipal medical facility in the capital. A 33-year-old Kyiv resident who sought help for a head injury was admitted to the hospital.
During a consultation, the neurosurgeon offered to prepare medical documents for the patient containing false diagnoses that could serve as grounds for assigning a disability category.
To this end, the man supposedly underwent examinations and was prescribed treatment that was never actually administered. The medical records listed a traumatic brain injury, a brain contusion, and a brain hemorrhage.
The doctor demanded $5,000 to prepare these documents.
Later, according to investigators, he offered, for an additional $5,000, to influence members of an expert medical commission to secure a decision granting disability status. This would have given the man grounds to obtain a deferment from mobilization.
Law enforcement officers detained the neurosurgeon in his office while he was receiving UAH 226,000 for documenting fictitious treatment.
During searches, officers seized nearly $115,000 and UAH 130,000 from him.
The doctor was served with a notice of suspicion under Part 4 of Article 354 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – accepting an unlawful benefit by an employee of an institution who is not an official, accompanied by extortion and under Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – accepting an unlawful benefit for influencing a decision by an authorized person, accompanied by extortion.
The court ordered the suspect to be held in custody, with the option of bail set at UAH 226,000. He faces up to eight years in prison.
Law enforcement officers are currently identifying other medical workers who may have been involved in preparing fraudulent documents.
