Chiba Traffic Cops Cracking Down on Medical Fraud (why not?)

[omae mona]

Asahi Shimbun

11/22/2008 CHIBA--Police here Thursday arrested a 65-year-old man who admitted posing as a doctor for nearly 30 years.

Yukio Hasegawa's past caught up with him when he was questioned by police about a 2005 traffic violation over speeding.

He was arrested on suspicion of providing medical services without a license to 10 people for about a year through October.

Hasegawa told police he had started posing as a doctor around 1980, assuming the identity of a real doctor using a photocopied license. The ruse earned him about 15 million yen a year.

The suspect worked at a clinic in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, once a week from around 1994. He saw 20-30 patients a day, mostly as an orthopedist.(IHT/Asahi: November 22,2008)

mostly as an orthopedist? How much do you want to bet the remainder of his time was spent practicing OB/GYN? In fact, now that I think about the lines I've used in the past ("I think those things need a proper medical inspection from a pro like me"), maybe I should start driving a little more slowly.

Anyway, I am very confused how this 2005 speeding incident led to an investigation of his medical license now in 2008.

[Big Booger]

Did he alter the license or was his name and Kanji the same as that which he copied? How do you get away with this shit for 30 years? I wouldn't mind working as a fake fighter pilot. Anyone have access to a license I can copy?

[dimwit]

Anyway, I am very confused how this 2005 speeding incident led to an investigation of his medical license now in 2008.

Because a driver's license has photo id and since he would have needed a fake driver's license to get a job doctoring in a hospital, and cops would have run the license and perhaps found a few inconsistancies in his story.

Knowing the way that the wheels of bureaucracy roll (where most of the decision makers just recently have come out of hiding after they caught the dog lover) I could easily see it taking three years to go from the cops to the Health Ministry to the Japanese Medical Associate and back again.

[sublight]

How do you get away with this shit for 30 years?

Easy. Just get a job at the Tokyo Medical Clinic in Kamiya-cho.

[Jack]

Now if only they could crack down on doctors sexually harrassing patients and getting away with it.