A general practitioner from Eeklo in East Flanders has been convicted on appeal for prescribing excessive quantities of medication to a dependent patient who took her own life five years ago.
On 16 January 2020, a man filed a complaint against the doctor whose sister died by suicide on 31 December 2019.
The woman had for years been dependent on alcohol and medication, and the previous eight years had been particularly problematic.
Following a request from the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products, pharmacies in Eeklo, Kaprijke and Lievegem were consulted.
They found that between 1 January and 31 December 2019, ten pharmacies had dispensed 91 prescriptions in the patient's name, all written by the same doctor.
According to testimony, the GP also left prescriptions and even pills in the patient's letterbox or delivered them personally to her home.
In the first instance, the doctor was given a suspended two-year prison sentence and a lifetime ban from practising. He appealed, but the Court of Appeal has now also convicted him.
"According to the expert report, the medicines prescribed were not medically justified, had no therapeutic purpose and could not in any way be considered appropriate or correct for the patient. This medication maintained her dependency, was not indicated in light of her medical situation and was even dangerous," the court ruled.
Because the events took place in 2019, the court reduced the sentence to a suspended one-year term. The doctor has also been banned from practising medicine for ten years.
