A U.K. radiologist received a suspended prison sentence in a case in which he was accused of misrepresenting the time he read x-ray studies in order to receive overtime pay from the National Health Service (NHS).
Dr. John Coffey admitted to fraud charges part way through his trial at Preston Crown Court, according to an article in the Daily Mail. He was accused of claiming 24,000 pounds (27,700 euros) in overtime pay by logging the reading time for hundreds of x-ray studies as one minute after his shift ended at Royal Preston Hospital in Lancashire, thus triggering overtime payments.
Prosecutors said Coffey agreed to interpret plain x-rays at 4 pounds per film outside of normal work hours in order to clear an NHS backlog. But instead, he did the work during his normal workday, prosecutors said, and submitted the extra reports at 5:01 p.m. and claimed overtime for the work, the Daily Mail story stated.
Coffey received a sentence of 15 months in custody, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
