Retired soldier – Steirer ordained 30 years as a fake doctor

“Have you ever studied medicine?”, Judge Andreas Rom asks the 83-year-old pensioner, who “ordained” between January 1987 and April 2020 in his apartment in Eastern Styria. “No, but I was trained in Germany in the 1960s as a non-medical practitioner,” he tries to justify himself. He also trained more than 2,000 young paramedics as sergeants in the army.

Doctoral Certificate “Downloaded from the Internet”
“But that doesn’t give you the right to become a doctor,” the judge said. “I never claimed to be a doctor,” said the defendant. “Then why did you have business cards and stamps that read ‘Doctor L.’ was standing? was standing?” asks the judge. The man has to admit that he “at least had no objection” when he was approached as a doctor. And he also admitted that he had “the doctorate certificate he downloaded on the internet”.

Asked a maximum of 50 euros for treatment
He examined his patients, who had to pay between 20 and 50 euros for a treatment, ‘mainly through the ear. You see everything in the ear, there is also the heart point, for example,” he describes his method. “But you also did a gynecological examination,” the judge said. “Yes, some have insisted on a physical examination.”

Incidentally, the man was already convicted in 1989 for quackery. “Why didn’t you stop?” asks the judge, “People needed me, so it went on and on. That was a mistake,” he explains and confesses.

Fine and six months in prison
Southeastern Styria was sentenced to a fine and six months in prison for serious fraud, quackery and forgery. After the “doctor” himself was recently caught in a Spanish lottery scam, his victims should not expect much compensation.

Ultimately, Judge Rome had another tip for the 83-year-old: “Finally stop ordaining. Otherwise, you’ll be working in the prison’s medical department.”