A court in Austria has sentenced a fake doctor who ‘treated’ 126 patients in his basement to 18 months in jail.

In one case, he had given a patient a useless ‘cure’ for rheumatism, leaving him with deformed finger joints.

The unnamed 61-year-old had posed as a GP despite having no formal medical training.

During his trial for serious commercial fraud, bodily harm, forgery of documents and quackery, he made the confession: “It really was nonsense.”

The defendant had started training as a nurse, a hairdresser, and even a wig maker but had never completed any of his studies.

Despite this, he set up a practice in the basement of his home in Kitzeck im Sausal, where he saw patients in ER doctor scrubs.

His patients had apparently not realised he was not a genuine doctor, possibly fooled by the fake diplomas he had hung on the walls.

Incredibly, during his time practising medicine illegally, he administered TBE vaccinations, performed IV cannulation, prescribed antidepressants, and made home visits.

He got so carried away with his scam that he even ended up performing minor surgical operations.

In one case, he removed inflamed tissue from a patient’s stump where their leg had been amputated.

And in another, he removed a patient’s sebaceous gland.

But it was the ‘treatment’ he gave a patient suffering from rheumatism that was his undoing.

He gave the unnamed man saline injections and vitamin B12, which failed to help him.

Quickly, both of his hands suffered damage, with his finger joints becoming deformed.

This led the fake doctor to turn himself in to a mental hospital in 2020.

After he presented staff with phoney reports, the medics immediately noticed they were fakes and his scam was exposed.

The court ruled that he must serve at least six of his 18 months before he can be considered for early release.

The verdict is not yet legally binding.