Both men are awaiting trial
A funeral agent in Loulé has been caught in a scheme which involved a doctor issuing death certificates remotely without carrying out an autopsy.
According to Jornal de Notícias, the two men were arrested and have been released pending trail.
The newspaper explains that the scheme devised by the two suspects “involved streamlining funeral procedures” so that the bodies could be picked up for funerals without an autopsy actually being performed. The doctor would allegedly receive €80 for each death certificate issued.
JN adds that the doctor was arrested in January after PJ police carried out searches at his private practice and at the Loulé health centre, while the funeral agent was taken into custody this month.
The doctor was indicted for passive corruption and is required to report periodically to police, having also been prohibited from practising as a doctor. The funeral agent, on the other hand, is accused of active corruption and is prohibited from contacting the other defendant, in addition to having already paid a €20,000 bail.
JN stresses that this case is a sign of a larger problem in Portugal: the lack of clear guidelines and control over the issuance of death certificates in cases of natural death. In other words, the responsibility is left in the hands of doctors contacted by funeral homes, who do not always go in person to confirm the causes of death.
