[AP]
An appeals court in the northern city of Thessaloniki has reduced the sentence imposed on a surgeon convicted of intentional grievous bodily harm over an unnecessary double mastectomy performed on a patient.
The doctor had initially been given a 5-year prison sentence for the criminal offense. But the appeals court found him guilty of a misdemeanour, grievous bodily harm with potential malice aforethought, and imposed a three-year suspended sentence taking into account his subsequent “good behavior and repentance.”
The doctor denied any wrongdoing during the appeal trial, and said any colleague in his position would have acted in the same way.
The case dated back to 2018, when a woman in northern Greece with a family history of breast cancer who had regular check-ups was found to have deposits of calcium in her breast tissue. Her doctor advised genetic testing for a predisposition to breast cancer, and then informed her that the test was positive and recommended a double mastectomy.
