A gynaecologist was fined by the state health services oversight agency for mislabelling C-sections as ‘emergency’ operations and charging a higher billing fee accordingly.

The health insurance organisation (HIO) was alerted to the case after the health services (Gesy) database gave visibility into the unusually high number of operations performed by the doctor in question, and the fact that many were marked “with complications”.

The HIO investigated the case by cross-referencing the women’s medical records with the doctor’s filed claims and carried out an onsite inspection, Philenews reported.

Suspicions were raised since most of the “emergency” C-sections “with complications” could not be substantiated with evidence and the HIO called in an outside expert to review the documentation, who concurred with the HIO’s findings.

The gynaecologist was subsequently fined €15,000 and the medical centre where the operations were performed was fined an additional €10,000 for the misconduct.

Elsewhere, the HIO fined a second gynaecologist €1,000, a rheumatologist €4,000, another medical clinic €3,000 and a physiotherapist €300 for irregularities.

The total fines issued in January came to €34,300 and the insurance organisation also recouped €17,000 in unwarranted payments.