Doctor charged with taking kickback to treat cancer patient

A 50-year-old doctor at the Ippokratio General Hospital in Athens was arrested Friday after accepting a bribe in marked bills that he had demanded from a patient in order to perform an operation.

The patient, who has been diagnosed with cancer, said he had already paid two bribes to the same doctor, a gastroenterologist, for two other operations.

According to the complaint he filed with police, the doctor behaved “indifferently” to his condition even though he had received a total of 2,650 euros for the two previous operations and was demanding a further 600 euros.