The MST hospital in Enschede deliberately kept quiet about the poor performance of a neurologist between 1992 and 2005, putting patient care at risk, according to an official report published on Tuesday.

Ernst Jansen Steur was allowed to make misdiagnoses, prescribe the wrong medicine and steal drugs to feed his addiction for years, without being tackled by the hospital authorities, the report is quoted as saying by the Telegraaf website.
The report’s authors say the hospital kept the affair hushed up in order to protect its and the doctor’s reputation. And, it says, health inspectors were wrong not to have investigated the situation despite receiving an official complaint in 2000.
The hospital also forced a patient to keep quiet about the poor treatment she was given or lose a €15,000 compensation package, the paper says.
In January it emerged some 20 victims who were wrongly diagnosed with incurable sicknesses by the doctor were awarded a total €500,000 in damages.