The 69-year-old doctor, a specialist in sports medicine and medical examination of social security, began to be tried in October at the Central Criminal Court of Lisbon for the crime of qualified aggravated fraud, the newspaper reported. Public.
The doctor wrote and signed nearly “a thousand prescriptions for the drug Victoza, whose active ingredient is liraglutide, effective for weight loss and appetite suppression, for the benefit of his patients, whether they had type 2 diabetes or not. says the newspaper. The incident occurred between February 21, 2014 and May 15, 2017.
The doctor caused damage to the National Health Service (SNS) of almost €99,000 because patients to whom he prescribed the drug improperly benefited from a government contribution intended only for type 2 diabetics, according to the Public Ministry (MP). .
The warning was issued by the NHS billing unit, which produced a report on NHS prescribing, dispensing and reimbursement of two drugs that competed with each other in 2016: Victoza and Bidureon. since its introduction and registration as a medicine covered by the National Health Service.
Due to its high price, liraglutide is only indicated for obese patients. The deputy understood that the doctor must return 98,057.70 euros to the state “with interest calculated at the legal rate due from the moment the unlawful act was committed until full payment.”
The criminal investigation judge found that “taking into account the most basic rules of experience, it is completely implausible that a defendant, with the conduct which he assumes upon himself, with the life and professional experience which his age has already afforded him, would issue and sign almost a thousand prescriptions, regardless of whether the patients had type 2 diabetes, without knowing or appreciating that the drug in question could only be prescribed to obese people and people with type 2 diabetes and that, by acting in this way, it resulted in an unreasonable payment to the Ministry of Health.”
The doctor claims to have prescribed the drug to obese patients with insulin resistance as an adjunct to another drug, always on a regular prescription.
Author: morning Post
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.