Dutch doctor who gave wrong diagnoses could face longer sentence
Ernst Jansen Steur arrives at the court in Zwolle, the Netherlands, on November 1, 2013, to appear for a negligence case at the Disciplinary Committee for Healthcare.
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PUBLISHED ONMay 21, 2015 3:15 AM
Prosecutors in the Netherlands on Wednesday called for a longer prison term for a former neurologist convicted for giving wrong diagnoses, which led one patient to commit suicide.
Ernst Jansen Steur "mistreated and neglected eight patients", and "systematically made serious mistakes concerning his patients' treatment", prosecutors said in a statement.
Jansen Steur, 69, was sentenced in February 2014 to three years in prison.
Both his lawyers and the prosecution are appealing the decision and he has not yet spent any time in jail.
The ex-neurologist gave eight patients false diagnoses concerning serious illnesses including Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis and multiple system atrophy.
Convinced she was suffering two deadly diseases, one of his patients took her own life.
Jansen's lawyer is expected to file an appeal Thursday, arguing that his client has been suffering brain damage since a car accident in 1990, according to Dutch media, which has branded the case the biggest medical negligence affair in the country's history.
The appeal judgement is expected on June 18.