Banned Doctors Freely Working Across Europe Amid System Failures, Probe Reveals (Worthy News Investigation)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Doctors stripped of their medical licenses for serious offenses — including sexual assault and fatal malpractice — have continued to practice medicine in other European countries due to failed oversight and weak cross-border alert systems, a sweeping investigation has revealed.

Findings published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and its media partners — and reviewed by Worthy News — expose widespread flaws that allow banned doctors to move freely within the European Union (EU) and beyond.

Investigators confirmed more than 100 cases of doctors barred in one country but licensed elsewhere, often still treating patients. “This is the tip of the iceberg,” OCCRP said, noting that the actual number of doctors working without proper authorization across Europe could be in the hundreds, given widespread gaps in reporting and secrecy laws.

The report cited “systemic flaws” in the EU’s Internal Market Information (IMI) alert system, which requires member states to notify others when a doctor’s license is suspended or revoked. Yet some nations “barely or never” use the system, OCCRP found.

Journalists who filed information requests were often denied access due to privacy laws — leaving patients uninformed and at risk.

SHORTAGE FUELS CRISIS

The revelations come amid a severe shortage of qualified medical professionals across Europe, which experts say may be contributing to lax oversight.

According to the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, and the World Health Organization (WHO), the continent faces a shortfall of at least 1.8 million healthcare workers, including up to 400,000 doctors. Roughly one in three EU doctors is over 55, and many are expected to retire within a decade.

Wealthier nations such as Germany and the Netherlands increasingly recruit from Eastern Europe, worsening shortages in countries like Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia — where regulators are under pressure to fill vacancies quickly.

Within the EU, Germany’s shortfall may reach 50,000 doctors by 2035, while in France, more than 6 million residents lack a family doctor, according to researchers. Meanwhile, in poorer EU states such as Hungary and Romania, as many as 40 percent of medical graduates have moved abroad since the countries joined the EU in 2004 and 2007, respectively, data show.

CASES FROM SLOVAKIA TO ENGLAND

Health analysts warn that this environment can make it easier for doctors with revoked licenses abroad to re-enter the workforce elsewhere, sometimes with insufficient vetting.

Among the cases, Dr. Mohamed El-Sakka, whose negligence contributed to a patient’s death in England, was banned by the UK’s General Medical Council in 2023 — yet remains registered to practice in Slovakia. Slovakia’s Education Ministry admitted it reported only three disciplinary cases to the IMI system, while at least sixteen more went unreported.

UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting condemned the findings as “a serious failure in our healthcare regulatory systems,” promising action.

In the Czech Republic, a doctor removed from the British register for “substandard care to twelve patients” now practices as a general practitioner. Czech law does not require authorities to verify whether applicants have been expelled from foreign medical chambers.

Poland also faces scrutiny after banned doctors from the UK, Sweden, and the U.S. were found working there — one reportedly under a new name. Regulators appear to have ruled their past offenses “not serious enough” to prevent employment.

HUNGARY LACKS TRANSPARENCY

Hungary’s investigative outlet Átlátszó reported that the National Hospital Directorate refused to release data on suspended doctors, citing privacy laws. However, British authorities confirmed notifying Hungary in four cases involving doctors disciplined abroad.

One Hungarian doctor admitted to reporters that after facing restrictions in another European country, he easily found a new job at a state hospital upon returning home.

The revelations have prompted outrage. Norwegian Health Minister Jan Christian Vestre called the situation “serious,” reopening investigations into 12 doctors previously cleared due to bureaucratic errors.

Nicolae Ștefănuță, vice president of the European Parliament, warned that the EU’s alert system is “full of loopholes” and urged member states to “treat these alerts with the utmost responsibility and not let serious cases go unpunished.”

Regulators in Germany, Spain, Cyprus, and Norway have launched fresh probes into physicians accused of misconduct, including one doctor in Düsseldorf who was investigated for sexually assaulting an 18-year-old patient.

NO TRANSPARENT MECHANISM

Despite these steps, OCCRP investigators say Europe still lacks a unified, transparent mechanism to stop dangerous doctors from crossing borders — leaving patients vulnerable to medical malpractice by professionals already banned elsewhere.

While the OCCRP verified more than 100 such cases, its reporters and data analysts found that the real number is likely several times higher — potentially in the hundreds — because several national authorities withheld or failed to provide complete records.

That raises serious questions about the future of cross-border healthcare in Europe and its impact on patient safety.

(This story is based on verified findings from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and its European media partners, including Átlátszó in Hungary, Investigace.cz in the Czech Republic, Publica in Romania, and others. National authorities in Britain, Germany, Norway, Spain, and Cyprus confirmed they are investigating individual doctors. All cases cited were cross-checked against official disciplinary rulings and public medical registries.)

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