Le Scouarnec’s case will elevate robust questions for France’s publicly run healthcare system, victims and rights teams say. Regardless of a conviction for youngster pornography in 2005, Le Scouarnec continued to work in public hospitals till his arrest in 2017.
The Well being Ministry did not reply to a request for remark.
Francois, a plaintiff within the case who was 12 when Le Scouarnec allegedly abused him, mentioned he hoped the case would offer some solutions from a system that he mentioned failed him.
“I realise I should not have been operated on by this surgeon,” mentioned Francois, who requested to be recognized solely by this identify. “I really feel betrayed by authorities … Why did no person forbid this surgeon from working with youngsters?”
DIARY DESCRIPTIONS
After discovering Le Scouarnec’s logs in 2017, investigators started monitoring down potential victims by matching diary descriptions with hospital data. Though most of the anaesthetised sufferers had no recollection of the alleged abuse, psychiatrists have documented signs of post-traumatic stress in victims, in line with courtroom paperwork.
Mathis Vinet was 10 in 2007 when his father and grandfather drove him to the Quimperle hospital with abdomen ache.
The grandfather, Roland Vinet, 78, remembers assembly Le Scouarnec, and considering nothing of the surgeon’s order that Mathis spend the night time alone within the hospital, he advised Reuters.
In his diary, Le Scouarnec recalled sexually assaulting somewhat boy that very same day and the next one, inappropriately touching his genitals every time, in line with a courtroom doc.
Mathis was by no means the identical after the hospital go to, Vinet mentioned, finally falling into a lifetime of alcohol and medicines. He died of an overdose at 24 in 2021, three years after studying from the police concerning the abuse he allegedly had suffered, and having flashbacks.
Vinet and his spouse, who’re plaintiffs within the case, mentioned they believed Mathis took his personal life. They blame Le Scouarnec for his or her grandson’s demise.
Reuters could not set up the function the surgeon’s alleged actions performed in Mathis’ demise.
