A 40-year-old doctor was indicted and imprisoned for the murder of two of his patients in palliative care, in Le Mans (Sarthe) in 2020, using anesthetics, the prosecution announced on Thursday, January 6.
The Le Mans public prosecutor’s office had opened a judicial investigation in April 2021 in this case following a report from the council of the Sarthe medical order, said prosecutor Delphine Dewailly.
It was the suspect’s colleagues at the Pôle Santé Sud clinic in Le Mans who revealed the inappropriate actions of this doctor working in the palliative care unit, according to a source familiar with the matter.
He is suspected of having given lethal doses of anesthetics to at least two of his patients, without consulting their families or the medical team, between February and October 2020.
DISCONTINUED FROM THE ORDER OF PHYSICIANS
Presumed innocent, he did not recognize the facts during his police custody, according to the source close to the file. Following the report, he was removed from the Order of Physicians and has not practiced since last October.
The man was arrested Tuesday near Rouen, where he lives, before being taken into custody, then indicted and imprisoned.
The investigations, carried out by investigators from the territorial directorate of the Angers judicial police, are continuing to determine whether other suspicious deaths can be attributed to the doctor in the other establishments he has attended in the past.
Suspected of breach of trust, the doctor was also placed under the status of assisted witness for this charge, said the prosecution.