Dozens of doctors who have been sanctioned in other European states for abuse, incompetence or racism continue to practice in Romania, without patients being informed and without the authorities intervening.
Doctors in Photo Hospitals: Shuterstock
It is only one of over 100 confirmed, which Public Record has discovered with the OCCRP and journalists from 46 countries in an international investigation that brings to light a defective European system, which allows the sanctioned doctors to relocate and practice medicine.
Dr. Iuliu Iosif Marian Stan, orthopedic and traumatologist, radiated from the UK register in March 2024 for repeated sexual abuse on his patients, continues to practice at the Emergency Hospital in Cluj-Napoca.
The British Court showed that Stan underwent patients to invasive and useless procedures “For one’s own sexual satisfaction, administering analgesics or laxatives by rectal 277 times between 2015 and 2020, including on a child and a woman.”
“I didn’t want to think about it” – the trauma of a patient after unauthorized procedures.
A concrete example is the patient John, who in 2019 had arrived at Royal Cornwall with a torn finger and the dislocated shoulder, after being attacked in the city in the evening.
Dr. Stan, a doctor specialized in orthopedics and traumatology, worked at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in southwestern England. He told John that he had to administer a rectal suppository to relieve pain.
“I asked him if there is no other way. Do you know, if there is no other type of medicine I can take? And he said: No, I have to do so.”said John, who preferred to keep his anonymity.
After discharge, the patient told a friend’s experience and tried to forget what happened. “I didn’t want to think about it. I was ashamed. As if I had done something wrong.”he remembered.
A British medical court discovered that Iuliu Stan systematically assaulted men and children who were patients between 2015 and 2020.
The doctor continues to profess in Cluj: “Everything I did, I did in the interests of the patients”
Last year, a medical court in England decided that Stan is no longer allowed to practice medicine because “He had subjected patients to unnecessary, invasive and intimate procedures for their own sexual satisfaction. ” He had administered analgesics or laxatives by rectal 277 times for five years to men’s patients, and once a woman.
Dr. Iuliu Iosif Marian Stan is now a doctor in Romania. He works at the Emergency Hospital in Cluj-Napoca.
“Everything I did, I think I did in the interests of the patients, as I knew better”, a declared Iuliu Stan on the phone, for the cited publication. He denied that he had sexually abused patients and said he was not claimed by patients, but on the contrary, he was congratulated.
Stan’s case is not isolated
It is only one of over 100 confirmed, identified by the record public and the OCCRP, which highlights how systemic deficiencies allow the sanctioned doctors to continue to work.
According to the quoted publications, these cases include Ragheb Nouman, orthopedic in the UK for clinical activity “Unacceptable” and racist comments, which now practice in a private clinic in Timisoara; Ionuț Poeană, a nephrologist to whom Sweden revoked the license for the lack of competences and who works at the Emergency Hospital in Calarasi; Or Abdool Majid Vahdani, obstetrician-gynecologist and urologist, declared inappropriate to practice medicine in the UK, who worked in Romania without the authorities being informed about his activity abroad.
The countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area can use the internal market information to alert other states about sanctioned doctors, but the mechanism is used sporadically. Between 2016 and 2025, Malta, Estonia, Greece and Liechtenstein sent only one notification, and only ten states.
Romania has issued 96 alerts, of which only ten for reasons related to professional practice. The European Commission has confirmed that it monitors the situation and can initiate infringement procedures if the states do not comply with the obligations.
“It is shocking and deeply disturbing”-Ask urgent measures
The victims of the victims also draw an alarm signal.
Tom Fletcher, specialist in cases of abuse, explains: “If a doctor was radiated in a jurisdiction for sexual abuse, he should not be able to work as a doctor in another country. There must be a minimal care standard that prevents doctors from doing patients.”
Gary Walker, lawyer of other victims, adds: “It is shocking and deeply disturbing for the affected people to find out that Stan treats patients in Romania. There must be an urgent review of international communication systems between medical authorities.”
The OCCRP investigation highlights that the deficiencies of the European system allows to continue their activity in other states, transforming patients into potential victims of a system that does not work.
