The doctor from Suceava with 290 bribes from cancer patients, stopped by judges from working for the state, but allowed to work privately

The head of the Oncology Department of the Suceava County Hospital, Anca Ababneh Dumitrovici, was sentenced on Thursday to 2 years and 6 months of suspended imprisonment. She admitted to accepting bribes 280 times in less than a month. His lawyers argued that he could not refuse the money and gifts received from the sick so that they would not think that they had no chance of life.

According to the sentence handed down by the court in Suceava, in addition to the sentence of 2 years and 6 months in prison, the judges prohibited Anca Ababneh Dumitrovici from practicing as a doctor in the public system for 5 years. He will be able to work in the private health system.

Also according to the sentence, for 4 years the doctor must comply with a supervision program and perform 100 days of community service.

The sentence of the Suceava Court can be appealed by the defendant doctor and the prosecutors within 10 days.

Recognized

Anca Ababneh Dumitrovici was tried through the simplified procedure, of admitting guilt, thus benefiting from the reduction of the punishment limits by one third.

According to the law, the trial was judged only on the basis of the evidence administered by the prosecutors during the investigation, which the doctor completely appropriated. Moreover, Anca Ababneh Dumitrovici did not raise any exception in the preliminary chamber either.

The head of the Oncology department of the Suceava County Hospital, Anca Ababneh Dumitrovici, was detained last January by prosecutors, pre-arrested, later placed under house arrest, being accused of receiving bribes from several patients within a month.

Colleagues defended her: bribes are gestures of gratitude

The case in Suceava sparked wide debates in the public space, after almost 100 doctors from the hospital where Anca Ababneh Dumitrovici worked showed solidarity with it. They argued that the deeds were not acts of corruption but gestures of gratitude. The frequency with which the head of the Oncology Department in Suceava received envelopes with money and gifts from patients amazed the investigators, according to data from

The doctor’s office was audio-video monitored for a month, from mid-December 2022 to mid-January 2023. After analyzing the recordings, prosecutors found that the doctor received bribes 280 times during this period – approximately 15 times a day. In total, 20,660 lei, 750 euros and various goods: from perfumes, candy boxes or coffee, to cheese, eggs or mushrooms. The doctor did not refuse anything that was offered to him by his patients.

On the day of the descents, in the office of the Head of the Oncology Department, the police found several envelopes with money, as well as various bags received from patients. She claimed the money was a gift from her colleagues for her birthday. He had the same explanation for the products found in the bags, but also for the envelopes with money found during searches of the home.

Defense of the doctor

Patients caught on surveillance cameras bribing the oncologist said they were never conditioned, but offered the attention “because she was nice every time” or because they wanted “more attention.”

The doctor’s lawyers argued before the court that the patients’ gestures were forms of gratitude and that the doctor did not refuse them so that the patients would not destroy their hope for life.

“We are dealing with a difficult department, namely the Oncology department. Or, denying such a patient a gesture of gratitude would be as if you had signed his death decision. These were the reasons why the doctor had leniency for these souvenirs received from the patients”, one of the doctor’s two lawyers stated before the judges.

The defense was not accepted by the court, which also explained why it is wrong for a doctor to receive attention from patients, even if it does not condition the medical act: “We cannot accept the claims of the defense that they adopted a behavior of tacit acceptance in order not to panic those persons. The defendant, in relation to her profession, had the obligation to provide medical assistance and insurance to patients strictly in compliance with the professional framework”.