Romania’s top medical body has come under fire after confirming that it allows a doctor banned in the United Kingdom for sexual abuse to continue practicing medicine within its borders. The case has ignited a broader debate about the glaring loopholes in Europe’s medical oversight systems-loopholes that allow doctors disciplined or banned in one country to simply move and restart their careers elsewhere.

The revelations stem from a sweeping international investigation, led by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Norway’s VG, and The Times of London, which found more than 100 doctors currently licensed in various European countries despite having been banned, sanctioned, or suspended in others. Among them is Dr. Iuliu Stan, a Romanian trauma and orthopedic specialist who was struck off the UK medical register after being found guilty of serious sexual misconduct involving his patients.

In Britain, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service determined that Stan had subjected male patients to “unnecessary, invasive, and intimate procedures for his own sexual gratification.” The findings led to his permanent removal from the UK medical register. Yet, by the time the verdict was finalized, Stan had already returned to Romania, where he resumed work at the County Emergency Hospital in Cluj-Napoca – one of the country’s largest public medical institutions.

When confronted by reporters from OCCRP’s Romanian partner Public Record, Stan categorically denied all allegations, insisting he had acted solely in his patients’ best interests. “Everything I did, I did in the interests of the patients, to the best of my ability,” he said. “None of the patients complained about me. On the contrary, they were........

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