Surgeon's Chilling Confession to Molesting Scores of Children: 'I Carried Out Sexual Assaults on Little Patients'

A former French surgeon has admitted to using his position as a medical professional to sexually abuse children throughout his career.

The 74-year-old former surgeon, Joel Le Scouarnec, is currently on trial in Vannes, Brittany, in France, where he’s been accused of sexually abusing 299 patients at dozens of hospitals across the country throughout his career, according to The Guardian. Almost all of the patients were children, according to the newspaper.

“I was a surgeon who benefited from my status to attack children, I don’t deny that,” Le Scouarnec told the court this week, adding, “I carried out my professional activity as well as I could, but at the same time I carried out sexual assaults on little patients.”

The Guardian reports that Le Scouarnec, a digestive surgeon who often operated on children with appendicitis, is accused of sexually abusing his patients while they were under anesthesia, in the post-surgery recovery rooms, or while they were resting in their hospital beds.

Le Scouarnec is accused of carrying out the sexual assaults between 1989 and 2014. 

Soon after his retirement in 2017, police discovered notebooks in which the former surgeon allegedly documented his sexual assaults over the years, writing down patients’ initials next to accounts of his crimes. The Guardian reports that Le Scouarnec is currently in jail after being found guilty in 2020 for the sexual abuse of four children.

Le Scouarnec’s trial is the single largest child sexual abuse trial in France’s history, according to CBS News. 

The former surgeon’s ex-wife, Marie-France Le Scouarnec, testified that her ex-husband had hid his crimes from his family. “It’s so huge, so unthinkable, inconceivable that my husband could have done all that,” she said.

The trial took another dramatic turn when soon afterwards, Le Scouarnec confessed to sexually assaulting a family member when the child’s father was in the courtroom, according to CBS. The outlet reported that authorities vowed to bring about additional charges against Le Scouarnec following the confession.

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The former surgeon has expressed remorse for his crimes throughout the trial, according to CBS and The Guardian, telling the courtroom last month that he “committed heinous acts.”

“I owe it to all these people and their loved ones to take responsibility for my actions and the consequences they may have had,” the former surgeon said.

The trial against Le Scouarnec is expected to last several months, CBS reported. The accused former surgeon faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, according to the outlet.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.