A medical officer was on trial for “deliberate misuse of powers”. The accusation: He allegedly failed three times due to exhaustion when the executive consulted him. The doctor, who works for the police for pay, blamed poor working conditions for the incidents and dismissed the charge of abuse of office.
A police doctor appeared before the Salzburg regional court on Thursday. The prosecution’s accusation: The man did not leave home three times in the spring of 2022 after the police consulted him. That is abuse of power. In all cases this involved forced housing of the mentally ill. A doctor must determine whether the person concerned should be transferred to a psychiatric ward against his will. The man would have turned down the missions rather uncharmingly. At one point, according to the indictment, he said, “It sucks. I’m not coming.” One night they said, “No, that’s enough for now.”
“Otherwise the system would have collapsed”
The doctor, who has been working for the police on a fee basis since 1994, no longer understands the world. “I’m so conscientious that I do everything if it’s somehow possible,” says the man. He has to work about four night shifts a week, which exhausts him constantly. Out of sheer sense of duty, he went to extremes because ‘otherwise the system would have collapsed’.
He was even on the road in Tennengau because the doctors in the district could not be reached to inspect the dead or investigate drug traffickers. In exchange for always being on standby, he agreed with his boss that he wouldn’t have to move if he was too exhausted. He does not understand that he is being tied in a rope, that politics is failing to secure the services of the medical officer.
Defendant doubted criminal liability
Defense lawyer Franz Essl doubts whether the facts have actually been fulfilled: “My client only works on a fee basis. And that around the clock. Nor is he a criminal lawyer who leafs through whether he is a civil servant in a functional sense or not.’
The procedure ended with a diversion. That means: The doctor pays 5000 euros and the court waives a judgment.
Source: Krone
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