French Polynesia doctor appeals conviction over brawl

10:44 am on 6 September 2017

One of the doctors in French Polynesia convicted and fined over a brawl in an operating theatre has lodged an appeal.

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The anaesthetist decided to appeal after he and a surgeon had each been fined $US5000 over a fight at a private clinic in Papeete.

The surgeon, who had tested positive for methamphetamine, was also given a suspended six-month jail sentence but the criminal court rejected the prosecution's request that he be deregistered.

The surgeon was also ordered to pay a journalist $US800 for making death threats for reporting the fight.

According to La Depeche de Tahiti, the prosecution also plans to lodge an appeal.

The two doctors inflicted injuries on each other for which they both had to take sick leave.

Reports said the two doctors have given contradictory accounts of what started the brawl, which was said to have woken up the patient who had been operated on.