Doctor handed suspended sentence after refusing to help patient

A doctor from the Moravian town of Olomouc has been handed an eight-month suspended sentence after refusing to help a homeless man who subsequently died. Mr Lubomír Spurný died at the gates of Olomouc University Hospital last January, after being turned away by doctors. During the trail, Doctor Hana Vranová apologized for her judgment in the case of Mr Spurný. The man had visited the hospital once already that day where he had been examined and released. Medical experts giving testimony at the trial agreed that Mr Spurný’s condition was such that he would have died even if doctors had treated him. The 54-year-old died of pneumonia.