Doc jailed for clicking nude patients

TOKYO: A Japanese physician was sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday for photographing naked female patients after telling them the pictures were for medical records.

Sadao Tanabe, head of chest and cardiac surgery at a public hospital in Tokyo, was given a 46-month term for telling five female patients to undress for ultrasound checkups and then taking photos. He told them the pictures were needed 'for the record' and stored them on his computer, according to court documents.

Tanabe, who was dismissed from his job over the incidents which took place from 2000 to 2004, immediately appealed.