Chiayi District prosecutors yesterday indicted 59 people allegedly involved in an insurance fraud in which the suspects faked illnesses and injuries to claim compensation.
The 59 people included three doctors from Chiayi’s Yang Ming Hospital, Chiayi Christian Hospital and National Taiwan University Hospital’s Yunlin branch, as well as 56 policyholders, prosecutors said.
However, one of the lead suspects, Lin Cheng-hsien (林政憲), recently died of an illness and therefore was not indicted.
He and the three doctors allegedly teamed up with a businessman who frequently visits various hospitals in the area because of his work.
The doctors and businessmen coached prospects on purchasing high-premium insurance plans and instructed them on how to stage fake traffic accidents, the indictment read.
The doctors then allegedly forged medical documents and arranged for the policyholders to be hospitalized in order to claim compensation for medical expenses.
Some surgeries were also performed on the policyholders, prosecutors said.
One of the indicted is a police officer surnamed Su, who allegedly received NT$969,000 (US$29,400) in insurance claims within half a year, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors alleged Su solicited medical staff to help him inflict wounds on himself, as well as stage fake traffic accidents by deliberately crashing his car into other drivers.
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