Lodz doctors charged with complicity in 18 deaths

Prosecutors in the city of Lodz said yesterday they had formally charged two doctors with deliberately allowing 18 patients to die. The charges, carrying jail terms of up to five years, follow a probe into reports by investigative journalists alleging that ambulance crews sold details of the dead to the highest bidders from funeral parlors. "The doctors are accused of endangering the lives of patients by failing to use their medical knowledge to give proper treatment," said prosecutor Jolanta Badziak. Badziak said prosecutors will continue probing medical staff and ambulance records after a mid-year report uncovered 270 "questionable deaths" in Lodz. The charges have exposed a flaw in the medical system which allows ambulance doctors to sign the death certificates of their patients without referral to an official coroner even if there are suspicious circumstances. So far 41 people, mainly employees of funeral parlors and the ambulance service, have been charged with corruption or selling information about names and addresses of the dead. Poland's social security system allocates $1,000 per head for funeral expenses. (Reuters) J.K.