Man sentenced to 81 years in prison

A gynaecologist has been sentenced to 81 years in prison.

Spain’s Supreme Court has confirmed the prison sentence for a gynaecologist who sexually abused patients in Catalonia.

The man abused his victims during check-ups at the Catalan Health Institute (CHI) and at his private office in Barcelona between 2003 and 2006.

The court rejected all the appeals submitted by the gynaecologist’s defence lawyers, the CHI - regarding subsidiary civil liability - and Zurich Insurance PLC Spain - regarding direct liability - and confirmed the sentence in its entirety, with the exception of those terms concerning paying compensation interests to one victim.

The gynaecologist, who will have to serve a maximum of 13 and a half years behind bars, would abuse his patients in his office when no nurses were around.

As stated by the court, the man would subject his patients to examinations that were contrary to his professional duties, and degrading. It also concluded that the gynaecologist treated them as mere objects for his own sexual gratification. Furthermore, the court said he took advantage of his patients’ trust and that the women did not give their consent but were overcome by a “somewhat paralysing perplexity.”

The gynaecologist has also been deprived of his licence to practise medicine and sentenced to pay each victim €6,000.