A woman who secretly practised gynaecology without proper authorisation for years has been handed a prison sentence for failing to correctly treat a woman with cervical cancer who died as a result.
The woman, identified as 55-year-old Ingrid VM, was given a two-year suspended prison for pretending to treat a woman with cervical cancer, according to Het Nieuwsblad.
Despite being removed from the Order of Doctors in 2008 over continuous traffic offences, VM continued practising medicine in secret for eight years.
In 2006, a 69-year-old patient came to her and VM reportedly pretended to perform a pap smear on her, and, despite not sending the tests to a laboratory, telling the patient the results were "negative," HLN reports.
When the patient's condition did not improve, she went to a different doctor who told her she had stage four cervical cancer. The woman died in 2017.
A Leuven court prosecuted VM on charges of unlawfully practising medicine, fraud and culpable negligence, with prosecutors demanding two years imprisonment.
The court heeded the prosecutor's sentence, Flemish media report Monday, but the woman's sentence is conditional on her undergoing a psychological assessment and on respecting her removal from the profession by suspending her secret practice.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
