An oncologist was sentenced to a suspended sentence for defrauding the ADSE health insurance system of almost half a million euros. The health professional was charged with two crimes of qualified fraud, one of them in attempted form.
The court decided to apply a suspended sentence to the doctor, thus avoiding effective serving of the prison term. The amount involved in the fraudulent scheme was close to 500,000 euros.
ADSE is a health subsystem aimed at workers in the Portuguese public administration, frequently targeted by fraud attempts. This type of fraud represents a loss to the system and to the taxpayers who finance it.
The case reveals a pattern of manipulation of the medical expense reimbursement system by the health professional, who used his position to obtain undue financial benefits.
