The Charentais ENT doctor suspected of having defrauded the Health Insurance to the tune of 286,000 euros was the subject of an investigation by the Order of Departmental Doctors.
An ENT installed in Soyaux in Charente is suspected of having embezzled 286,000 euros in three years. Dr Manuel Albertyn used the vital cards of his patients and those of their beneficiaries to bill fictitious acts, or repeated examinations on the same patients. He would also have carried out unjustified acts in order to increase his activity.
According to information from our colleagues from South West, the doctor was in the crosshairs of the Council of the Order of Charente, which had been conducting an investigation for three years. Associates of Dr. Manue Albertyn, as well as anesthetists who witnessed operations that they found unjustified or even dangerous, would have sounded the alarm.
“We were all stuck”
The doctor was reportedly summoned to appear before the Order twice in three years. The CPAM was also aware of his abnormal activity, according to South West. To defend himself, Dr Albertyn, of Belgian nationality, allegedly invoked a lack of knowledge of the French billing system, as well as different medical methods.
“We had great suspicions, but difficult to provide evidence, testifies the president of the Charente Order, quoted by the newspaper. We were all stuck. Today, justice allows us to have indisputable elements ”.
The doctor was taken into custody at the Angoulême police station on Tuesday. The next day, an examining magistrate notified him of his indictment for fraud. Justice was seized after a complaint filed by the health insurance fund.
The investigation entrusted to the regional judicial police service of Limoges revealed that the ORL declared acts on children when they were “physiologically impossible to perform”.
5 years in prison
In addition, repeated acts on the same patients were demonstrated during the investigation. A very high frequency – three times greater than in other ENTs – which could “generate physiological consequences on patients”. Also, a component “harm to persons” has been added to the fraud component, for which he incurs five years in prison.
After his indictment, the ORL was able to return home and resume his consultations since there was no ban on exercising his profession.
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