A French court has sentenced retired surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, to the maximum 20-year jail term for sexually abusing hundreds of patients—most of them children—over more than two decades. The Vannes court found him guilty of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults committed in hospitals between 1989 and 2014.
Already serving 15 years from a 2020 conviction, Le Scouarnec admitted during the trial to abusing 299 patients, including 256 minors, many while they were unconscious during or after surgery. He meticulously recorded his crimes, describing himself as a “major pervert” and expressing no remorse in his notes.
Despite the gravity of the offences, the court rejected a request to detain him indefinitely after release, citing his stated “desire to make amends.” Victims staged protests outside court, holding signs reading “Never again” and calling attention to “forgotten victims” whose cases were dismissed.
Critics have questioned how such a predator was allowed to operate for so long, especially after a 2005 conviction for child pornography that resulted only in a suspended sentence. Health Minister Yannick Neuder has promised reforms to prevent future abuses. As one lawyer said, Le Scouarnec was “an atomic bomb of paedophilia.”
