Chile: 111 colluding doctors found, FNE calls for Union break-up

The National Economic Prosecutor’s Office (FNE) of Chile denounced a price-fixing scheme involving 111 surgeons from the Valparaíso region, suing the regional Union of Surgeons before the Tribunal for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC).

The FNE has accused the 111 surgeons of “acting jointly in the market of professional services granted by medical specialists […] through the setting and implementation of set prices for medical consultation services and surgical procedures.

The Union has also been accused of “operating as an instrument for the centralization and coordination of its members in the anti-competitive agreement, and implementing and executing the aforementioned agreement …”

The Office of the Prosecutor requested the TDLC to apply a fine of 1,000 Annual Tax Units (UTA, equivalent to almost 569 million pesos, USD$901,300 approximately)on the professional association, and for this amount to be paid in solidarity by the surgeons involved. In addition, it requested the Court to order the dissolution of said association.