ANAESTHETIST JAILED

Anaesthetist Juan Maeso, 65, who has hepatitis C, was sentenced last week to nearly 2,000 years in prison for infecting hundreds of patients with the virus. He had infected 275 people between 1988 and 1997, by injecting himself with a morphine syringe before using the rest on a patient. Four of them have since died. Valencia's Provincial Court sentenced Mr Maeso, who is a morphine addict, to 1,933 years in jail but the most he can serve under Spanish law is 20 years. He was also ordered to 150,000 euros to each of the families of the four people who died.