Salzburg doctor convicted: false weight loss injections for hundreds of euros!

Salzburg doctor convicted: false weight loss injections for hundreds of euros!

Steyr, Österreich - A Salzburg doctor was recently convicted in Steyr after selling fake weight loss injections, which contained homeless insulin instead of the active ingredient Semaglutid. This unfortunate incident throws a bright light on the problem of fraud in the healthcare sector. The judgment is 21 months in prison, from which the doctor must be served for seven months. Its defense said that the judgment would be done because it is not yet final. The fake syringes were obtained from two entrepreneurs who were condemned in 2024, and show a dangerous interaction of profit greed and disregard for health risks, as the court stated. The Salzburg cosmetic surgeon had sold the syringes to several hundred euros per pack and many patients suffered health complaints.

The allegations against the doctor include serious bodily harm, commercial fraud and a violation of the Medicinal Products Act. In his procedure, he was only guilty of gross negligence, but the court found conditional intent in the injuries. A current report by the top association of health insurance companies shows that fraud in healthcare is widespread and increasingly complex. In the period from 2022 to 2023, over 200 million euros in fraud was determined, with the area of medicinal and association means being particularly affected.

fraud in healthcare

The AOK Nordost warned of fake recipes for the Lonsurf Cancer medication, which only costs online for 3,200 euros. The Ozempic weight loss injections are also illegally sold with fake recipes, with the costs for health insurance companies between 80 and 217 euros. The increased crime is also shown by the fact that 50,000 references to fraud in healthcare were checked, which corresponds to an increase of over 20 percent compared to the years 2021 and 2020

The always growing number of billing fraud affects all areas of statutory health and long-term care insurance. Frequent types of fraud include the settlement of non -rendered services and forgery of documents. The health insurance companies report on increasingly complex structures and networked fraud cases, for example when recipes are redeemed in pharmacies that are several hundred kilometers away from the insured persons. In the area of medicinal and association funds alone, the fraud cost almost 86 million euros.

In order to counteract this problem, the SHI is calling for a central recording of billing data and its own study by the Federal Government to research the dark field in the health system. In a preventive step, an improved pioneering protection law could also help, since less than 20 percent of whistleblowers in healthcare are currently enjoying adequate protection. Research estimates that the damage caused by billing fraud in health systems between five and ten percent of total expenditure.