A former French surgeon, Joel Le Scouarnec, is set to face trial on Monday for allegedly raping or sexually assaulting nearly 300 patients, the majority of whom were children.
Le Scouarnec, 74, is already serving a prison sentence after being convicted in 2020 for abusing four minors, including two of his nieces.
Shocking Scale of Abuse
The latest trial, expected to last four months, involves accusations that he assaulted or raped 299 patients between 1989 and 2014 across 12 hospitals. Many victims were reportedly attacked while waking up from anesthesia or during post-operative checkups.
Among the victims, 256 were under the age of 15, with the youngest being just one year old, and the oldest 70.
The case has sent shockwaves across France, coming just two months after Dominique Pelicot was convicted for orchestrating the repeated rape of his heavily sedated wife.
Unlike Pelicot’s case, where multiple perpetrators were involved, Le Scouarnec is the sole defendant in this trial, accused of crimes against hundreds of victims.
Trial and Potential Sentence
The trial will take place in Vannes, Brittany, and will be open to the public. However, testimonies from victims who were minors at the time of the assaults will be heard behind closed doors.
If convicted, Le Scouarnec faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. French law does not allow sentences to be combined, even in cases involving multiple victims.
Systemic Failures and Missed Warnings
Despite a 2005 conviction for possessing child abuse materials, Le Scouarnec continued to practice medicine for over a decade.
Authorities were first alerted in 2004 when the FBI identified him among French nationals accessing child exploitation content online. A court in Vannes handed him a suspended four-month sentence in 2005.
By that time, he had already moved to another hospital in Quimperlé, Brittany, where he was promoted—even though management was aware of his conviction.
He later relocated to southwestern France, continuing to work until his retirement in 2017. It was only after his retirement that investigators uncovered his hidden diaries, detailing his years of alleged abuse.
Calls for Accountability
Victims and child protection advocates argue that systemic failures enabled Le Scouarnec’s crimes to go unchecked for decades.
Frederic Benoist, a lawyer for La Voix de l’Enfant (The Child’s Voice), criticized the lack of action against Le Scouarnec, calling it a “collective failure”.
A separate investigation is underway to examine these institutional failings, though no individual or organization has yet been formally charged.