‘Fake doctor’ denies he is responsible for three deaths

Last week, Greek City Times reported that police arrested a 47-year-old Greek man posing as a doctor in Athens.

The man who has now been identified as Nikos Kontothanasis, stands accused of posing as a health specialist and possibly contributing to the death of three cancer patients, including two teenagers.

The suspect’s details were published in order to aid the police in its investigations.

Kontothanasis admitted to claiming qualifications he did not possess, but said he never encouraged patients to stop their conventional treatments.

In his testimony on Monday, the 47-year-old apologised to the families of three patients who died under his care but denied that he had encouraged them to replace the treatment they were receiving with quack remedies he purchased off the internet, some of which were found to be made up of cannabis.

He admitted that he was not a certified neurosurgeon or other specialist, as he had claimed to his patients and their families, but said that he considers himself an expert in botany and therefore able to help patients battling difficult illnesses.

Kontothanasis faces three counts of murder over the deaths of the two teenage boys and a 76-year-old man, as well as multiple counts of fraud and charges for other crimes, as investigators have been able to track down at least 45 individuals who came under his care.

Since the case broke in the media last week, an additional 35 witnesses have reportedly come forward, including the family of a middle-aged man who died of cancer and the mother of a 17-year-old boy claiming that her son became wheelchair-bound as a result of the treatment prescribed by the suspect.