Arrested a doctor in Portugal suspected of raping patients during consultations

A doctor has been arrested and suspended from duty in the north of Portugal on suspicion of having raped several patients during consultations he was carrying out in a hospital, under the pretext of making a “better diagnosis”.

The 60-year-old detainee with no criminal record is the alleged perpetrator of several crimes of rape and sexual coercion committed since last year, the Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ) reported in a statement on Thursday.

“The victims, although coerced, submitted to the aforementioned practices, given the situation of dependency in which they found themselves, as well as the ignorance of the alleged medical procedures in progress,” the authorities explained.

Although the PJ did not give further details, local media advanced that the detainee is an orthopedist who works at the Penafiel Hospital and other private centers, denounced by two women, one in 2022 and another this year.

The Police do not rule out the emergence of other victims who until now had not dared to report. The doctor was subjected to his first judicial questioning and, in addition to being suspended from duties in any public or private health center, he is prohibited from contacting the victims and witnesses in the case.