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Dutch ophthalmologist given 4-year suspended sentence in Portugal for blinding 4 people

Xinhua, January 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

A Dutch ophthalmologist was given a suspended sentence of four years and eight months in Portugal on Thursday after he was found guilty of partially blinding four people in operations he carried out in 2010, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported.

Dr. Franciscus Versteeg, who was not present at any of the court sessions of his trial, was accused by the Portuguese Public Prosecutor of aggravated negligence after four people were left partially blind from infections after Versteeg operated on them at the I-Q-Med Clinic in Lagoa, 330 km south of Lisbon.

In his closing statements the Public Prosecutor called for Versteeg to be given a suspended sentence as "he did not act with due care, before or after the operations, and was negligent by not treating the cases as they should have been treated."

Another man was given a 10-month suspended sentence for acting as the doctor's medical assistant despite having no qualifications to do so. Endit