Health inspectors pay damages to widow of doctor who killed himself

Photo: Jan Dijkstra via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Jan Dijkstra via Wikimedia Commons

The health inspectorate has paid €154,000 in damages to the widow of a doctor who committed suicide after being accused of wrongly administering euthanasia to a dying cancer patient.

Nico Tromp, a family doctor from the Noord Holland village of Tuitjenhorn, killed himself six days after his home was raided late at night by police and he was suspended, following a complaint from a trainee doctor.

His suspension was later proven to be wrongful and the hospital where the trainee doctor was based also apologised for bringing in the health inspectorate without discussing the allegations with him.

The Volkskrant says it has a copy of the agreement reached between the widow and inspectors. Her lawyer Cor Hellingman has refused to comment on the size of the award but did say it was ‘very substantial for reputational damage’.

The case was reported to the hospital by a trainee doctor who was with Tromp when he gave the terminally-ill cancer patient morphine. She said the doctor had given the patient too much of the drug.

The widow of Theo Spaansen, the man helped to die by the doctor, said at the time she was furious with the health ministry and that the doctor did his best with her husband. Spaansen was sent home from hospital because he wanted to die in familiar surroundings.

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