Japanese neurosurgeon Takanori
Fukushima, who briefly hit international headlines last year due
to false reports he diagnosed Pope Francis as having a brain
tumour, is under investigation in the southern Italian city of
Salerno in relation to a separate case, ANSA sources said
Tuesday.
Fukushima is among a number of doctors implicated over
allegations they demanded money from patients so that they did
not have to wait for their names to come up from the bottom of
long waiting lists.
Two doctors, including a department head at Salerno's
Ruggi d'Aragona hospital, and a nurse were put under house
arrest on Tuesday and another health worker was suspended for
nine months.
Prosecution sources said there was "serious" evidence of
wrongdoing by Fukushima, but added that no arrest warrant had
been issued as the physician is a resident in the United States
and has no fixed abode in Italy.
They added that the arrest of the people involved meant
there was no danger of the consultant repeating the crimes he is
accused of.
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