19-07-2025
France probes authorities over failure to stop doctor's child abuse
PARIS: The French judiciary has launched an investigation into the failure of authorities to check on a hospital doctor who continued abusing nearly 300, mostly underaged, patients for over a period of 25 years, before he was convicted, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
The investigation is being conducted into "intentional failure to prevent crimes and offences against the physical integrity of persons," said prosecutor Stéphane Schellenberger on Friday in the western town of Lorient.
Joël Le Scouarnec, a retired doctor, was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the end of May after confessing to abusing a total of 158 male and 141 female patients, with the average age of his victims being 11, between 1989 and 2014.
The investigation does not target specific individuals, but instead probes into the steps taken by the health authorities, clinic managers, and other medical staff in connection with the abuse.
It remains unclear why the health authorities failed to stop the abuse, despite the doctor having already received a suspended sentence concerning a child pornography case in 2005.
Some of the perpetrator's colleagues had raised the alarm, but the surgeon had moved to another hospital without facing disciplinary action.
