A medical clinic in Vienna’s Favoriten district has been sealed by authorities after an inspection uncovered a disturbing combination of alleged fraud, unsafe medical conditions and serious hygiene failures. The surgery, located on Laxenburger Strasse, was closed on Tuesday and its locks were changed after Vienna’s Group for Immediate Measures led a coordinated operation involving police, city departments and medical regulators, according to ORF News.
At the centre of the case is the suspicion that patients were treated by a man who had not been allowed to practise medicine for more than ten years. Authorities said the clinic had offered services ranging from Botox treatments to circumcisions. Investigators also believe the man misused the official stamp of another doctor who had only recently begun working at the same location.
The Vienna city administration has filed multiple complaints under the Doctors Act, while police have reported the man on suspicion of aggravated fraud. Officials also cited a case of undeclared work and the alleged unlawful receipt of minimum income benefits.
Inside the clinic, inspectors found conditions that they described as deeply concerning. Expired medicines and syringes were discovered alongside opened medicine bottles that had not been properly stored. Drugs not authorised in the European Union were also found and seized. Particularly alarming, authorities said, was the discovery of medication in an unlocked rolling container in the waiting area, where it was easily accessible to anyone present.wien.
The inspection further revealed serious gaps in medical safety. The clinic lacked the legally required emergency equipment altogether, and no inspection records could be provided for several devices, including an electrocardiogram machine. Unsafe electrical wiring and power sockets partly torn from the walls added to the picture of a facility unfit to treat patients.
Walter Hillerer, head of Vienna’s Group for Immediate Measures, said doctors hold a vital place in society because people entrust them with their health. “When people seek medical help, they must be able to rely on being in safe hands,” he said. That trust, he added, is the foundation of the health system and must never be abused.wien.
The operation included Vienna’s enforcement, health and social welfare services, the State Police Directorate, the Vienna Medical Association and a medical quality assurance organisation.
