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A dentist is accused of having fraudulently enriched himself on the back of social security by carrying out medically unjustified and botched operations.
The dentist and his father risk 10 years in prison. (Illustrative photo)
AFP
Lionel G., a 41-year-old dentist, will be tried in Marseille for “intentional violence resulting in mutilation or permanent disability” and “fraud”. His 70-year-old father, also a dentist, will also be on the dock. The two men, also prosecuted for “use” and “complicity” of “false private writing” incur 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 375,000 euros. This sum could rise to nearly two million euros for their companies, not to mention the compensation of the many victims.
Abscess, pain, repeated infections, black mouth, bad breath, prostheses that do not hold: ten years after the incriminated facts – from 2009 to 2012 -, many former patients still suffer from disorders, testifies Marc-André Ceccaldi, lawyer of several plaintiffs. “Lionel G. promised them a star smile,” he says. “My client will endeavor to demonstrate that, if there was undoubtedly negligence or recklessness, he never had the will to harm”, explains for his part Frédéric Monneret, lawyer for Lionel G.
A total of 322 former patients filed civil suits, alongside the Primary Health Insurance Fund (CPAM) of Bouches-du-Rhône, five mutuals and the National and Departmental Council of the Order of Dental Surgeons. This extraordinary trial will be held until April 8.
The high life
The conclusions of the administrative investigation describe an organized system aimed at producing “a maximum of dental prostheses, benefiting from freedom of tariff”. According to several witnesses, “the father-son tandem was clearly led by Lionel G.”. “The first consultation systematically ended in a massive program of work involving devitalizing and crowning as many teeth as possible”, notes the report, evoking “strong presumptions of voluntary degradation of healthy teeth”.
“You came for two cavities and you left with all the devitalized teeth”, testified during the investigation the dental assistant, Nadia Omar. Lionel G. billed 28 times more crowns than the average of his colleagues, counted a dental consultant from Health Insurance. In 2010, he was the leading dentist in France with a turnover of 2.6 million euros, against a departmental average of 180,000 euros.
The man has built up in a few years a property portfolio of 9.5 million euros, owned luxury cars, a 15-meter yacht. In front of the investigators, Lionel G. justified his success by long working hours and exceptional speed. But for social security, achieving such results in a normal activity would have required 52 hours of work a day.
Dr. G. cut back on the quality of care, realizing for example “the fitting of a permanent dental prosthesis, without any fitting”, while “this act requires no less than five steps”. Justice also accuses dentists of the disappearance or falsification of x-rays in an attempt to conceal false diagnoses.
(AFP)