France opens probe into systemic failures behind paedophile surgeon’s decades of child abuse
- Dignity 4Patients
- Jul 18
- 2 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
By France 24 - 18/07/2025 - [FRANCE] - [ Dr. Joel Le Scouarnec] France has opened a judicial inquiry into systemic failures that allowed a convicted paedophile to practise as a surgeon for years while repeatedly abusing children in his care, a prosecutor said Friday.
A French court in May sentenced retired doctor Joël Le Scouarnec to 20 years in prison after he confessed to sexually abusing or raping 298 patients between 1989 and 2014.
Of those, more than 250 victims were under 15.
Victims and child rights advocates say the case highlights systemic flaws that allowed Le Scouarnec to repeatedly commit sexual crimes.
Le Scouarnec has been in prison since a court convicted him in 2020 of abusing four children, including two of his nieces.
Stephane Kellenberger, prosecutor in the western city of Lorient, said he had ordered an investigation last month into any failures to prevent the crimes.
The new probe by an investigating magistrate, which follows a preliminary probe ordered in 2020, would be able to include any relevant elements from the latest trial.
An AFP investigation published before the trial showed Le Scouarnec practised medicine for years despite a 2005 sentence for owning sexually abusive images of children, and both a colleague and a regional hospital official reporting him as unfit to practise.
When Le Scouarnec was promoted in 2006, his criminal record did not appear to have been updated and was still blank, according to documents from local and regional health agencies, AFP reporting found.
Following a regional investigation into a suspicious death at the hospital where he worked, Le Scouarnec moved to the southwest of the country.
Investigators only uncovered his alleged crimes after he retired in 2017, when a six-year-old girl accused him of rape and police found countless accounts of abuse in his diaries.
During the trial, the National Order of Physicians – a civil party in the case – said it "regretted" what it described as "dysfunctions" that allowed him to continue to practise.
A collective of the former surgeon's victims said a telephone hotline was launched on Thursday to provide support to victims, relatives, and professionals who have followed the case.
Investigators are also looking into whether there are more victims. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article and were abused in state run medical and health facilities, you can contact Dignity4Patients, whose helpline is open Monday to Thursday, 10am to 4pm.
Dignity4Patients Commentary:- France’s probe into the decades-long abuses by surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec exposes painful systemic failures—from courts to hospitals to medical regulatory bodies —that allowed predators to operate unchecked. Irish survivors of a former surgeon. #MichaelShine deserves the same reckoning: a full public inquiry to ensure justice, healing, and real protection for future patients #TruthMatters #PublicInquiry
