Thirteen patients at the Medisch Spectrum Twente hospital may have been referred for unnecessary brain surgery by former neurologist Ernst Jansen Steur, local broadcaster RTV Oost reports on Wednesday.

Jansen Steur is due to appear in court on Wednesday to face charges of seriously abusing patients following a string of misdiagnoses. The former neurologist, who has since been sacked, wrongly told patients they had serious illnesses such as Parkinson, MS and Alzheimer.
In a separate investigation, the hospital re-examined 120 operations and found cause for concern in 13 of them.
Most of these were carried out by the same surgeon on Jansen Steur’s recommendations. Five of the cases concern misdiagnoses and in three cases youngsters with early signs of dementia were given a brain biopsy, which is not normal treatment, the broadcaster said.
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