Doctor gets 2 yrs for treating tumour with herbs (4)

(ANSA) - Turin, April 4 - An Italian doctor who treated a tumour patient who later died with herbs and psychology according to the controversial theories of German doctor Rike Geerd Hamer on Tuesday got two years and a half years in jail. Germana Durando, a GP and homeopath, treated a woman with a birthmark on her left shoulder that was diagnosed as a malignant melanoma. The cancer killed the patient.
    Durando was convicted of the manslaughter of Marina Lallo, who died at the age of 53 in 2015.
    At one point in the treatment, Lallo wrote to Durando saying "you recommended homeopathy and to work on forgiveness, but the tumour's not getting any better".
    "Marina," prosecutor Rossella Salvati said, "did not refuse traditional medicine. She was convinced to do so by Dr Durando." Experts described the Hamer cure as "quackery". Turin judges ordered a provisional payment of 10,000 euros to the victim's daughter, 5,000 euros for her brother and 5,000 euros for her mother. "We often complain about the slowness of justice," said the family's lawyer, Marino Careglio. "But here justice was swift: it came two years after the fact. And it worked".
    The doctor's defence lawyer, Stefano Castrale, stressed that the punishment was lower than what prosecutors asked and that the judges did not order Durando to be disbarred.