Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - Those affected by the Bottrop pharmacist scandal demonstrated in front of the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Health for the promised compensation. They accused NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) of breaking his word because many victims would not receive any compensation in the foreseeable future. After a discussion with the demonstrators, Laumann was thoughtful: The criteria for the compensation payments would be reconsidered - he asked for some time to think about it: "Give us four weeks."
The state parliament had provided ten million euros for the victims of the Bottrop pharmacist. The pharmacist had underdosed the expensive active ingredients in cancer drugs and thus made enormous profits.
The ministry had limited the payments to the approximately 2,000 victims named in the verdict. This had outraged the demonstrators. The number of victims was limited by the Essen district court for reasons of procedural economy in order to reach a verdict, said Isabel Egidy, for example. You are not good for fair compensation.
"But we need a legal basis for the payment of state benefits. We are guided by the judgment because we have nothing else," countered Laumann.
Lawyer Manuel Reiger, who represents several victims, said the criminal judgment did not fit the right to compensation. A better basis would be all of the around 3,700 victims listed in the indictment. These had been shown to have received underdosed cancer drugs.
In front of the ministry, the demonstrators unrolled a ten-meter-long list with the names of around 3,500 people who are said to have fallen victim to the Bottrop pharmacist. He had equipped his villa, which was once worth tens of millions, with some expensive extras - such as a water slide from the first floor into the in-house swimming pool. The pharmacist had been sentenced to twelve years in prison and a lifelong ban from working by the Essen Regional Court for fraud and violation of the Medicines Act. The judgment had been confirmed by the Federal Court of Justice. He recently went to court against the withdrawal of his license to practice medicine - and failed in the first instance.
