Awaited for months by the 374 victims of this titanic case, after a conviction at first instance to eight years in prison, the appeal trial of Lionel Guedj and his father will open this Thursday with a final twist. According to our information, the lawyer for Lionel Guedj, a millionaire dentist accused of mutilation and of having implemented a vast Social Security scam in his office in the northern districts, will ask as soon as the debates open in Marseilles that a medical expertise is carried out on his client in order to ensure that his state of health is compatible with the hearings envisaged.
“My client has old health problems, explained to 20 minutes Lionel Guedj’s lawyer, Me Julien Pinelli. He has a part of the heart which is atrophied, which in 2020 required the installation of a pacemaker. However, there is a malfunction with this device. While my client was in detention, I requested that this pacemaker be changed. It hasn’t been done. And two weeks ago, my client suffered a loss of consciousness. He was hospitalized in Draguignan. He is in a state of continued exhaustion and shortness of breath which means that he could not approach this ordeal which is the trial. »
The promise of a “star smile”
Lionel Guedj will nonetheless be present at the opening of the debates, according to his lawyer. The court will have to rule on this request for medical expertise which could postpone the start of the trial. As a reminder, on September 8, 2022, Lionel Guedj and his father Jean-Claude were sentenced respectively to eight and five years in prison for “willful violence resulting in the mutilation of hundreds of patients” and “fraud at the expense of Social Security and mutuals”, for damages estimated at 1.476 million euros.
Their dental practice was located in the heart of the northern districts, in the Saint-Antoine district, from 2005 to 2012. With one particularity: Lionel Guedj multiplied the fitting of prostheses in place of healthy teeth, promising “a star’s smile” to his mostly poor patients and CMU beneficiaries. With up to 70 patients a day, at the rate of one patient every ten minutes from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Lionel Guedj is accused of having made false diagnoses, to then be able to devitalize healthy teeth and put prostheses then although it was not justified. He is also accused of having carried out this work too quickly and therefore of having missed certain devitalizations or of having fitted unsuitable prostheses. Many are still suffering ten years after the events, as civil parties explained during the trial at first instance.
The richest dentist in France
With this method, Lionel Guedj’s fees were then 14 times higher than those practiced by other dentists, to the point that the dentist became the richest practitioner in France. In 2010, the most profitable year, the turnover of Doctors Guedj was around three million euros. At the same time, Lionel Guedj is building up a colossal heritage which he estimates at 12.9 million euros.
For this trial, after several requests, Lionel Guedj appears detained, unlike the trial at first instance where he was free throughout the duration of the investigation, that is to say ten years. “My client disputes the facts with which he is charged in the first instance and considers that they can only be due to negligence, believes his lawyer Me Pinelli. I will therefore plead the requalification in involuntary injury. “His father Jean-Claude Guedj, for his part, appears free, despite his conviction with a warrant of committal. Last March, he was placed under judicial control with classic obligations and prohibitions. Thus, he must not leave the department where he resides, must check in once a week at the police station and hand over his passport. The court prohibited him from practicing as a dentist. Contacted, Jean-Claude Guedj’s lawyer indicated that she did not wish to speak before the debates.
The hearing is scheduled to last until June 30.