The scene is unusual to say the least. After several hours of hearing, standing in his box in the extraordinary trial room of the court, in Marseille, Lionel Guedj leafs through a thick red binder, filled with dozens and dozens of plastic bags, placed on the bar. Pockets that bring together all of the medical expertise mandated by the courts that call into question the practices of the dentist in the northern districts. Lionel Guedj lives there on the third day of his appeal trial. The one who was in 2010 the richest dentist in France is currently imprisoned, accused of having mutilated hundreds of his patients between 2006 and 2012, by devitalizing the chain of healthy teeth to pose en masse very remunerative prostheses. He is also accused of having defrauded Social Security for damages estimated at more than one million euros.
And this Thursday morning again, while the day is devoted to the hearing of these expert dentists who have spoken on his methods, Lionel Guedj sets the tone, from the opening of the debates. And it is to say the least offensive, not to say accusatory: “I will prove that these expert opinions are distorted. I will bring you the proof. “A counter-investigation carried out by him which he did not report at first instance against his will, to listen to him. “In the first instance, I was made to understand to keep quiet to calm things down. On appeal, I will say everything. »
“You know, they filed a complaint eight years later…”
And to affirm for example that, for a patient for which he was condemned, he would have just done the x-ray and the fitting of the prostheses. The problematic devitalizations would be the work of a colleague, whom the patient requested between two appointments with Dr. Guedj. “And then, devitalizing dozens of teeth at once is technically impossible,” says Lionel Guedj. Large maximum, me, it was three teeth. Behind him, at the back of the room, the victims are indignant. Several of them recount having suffered dozens of devitalizations from Lionel Guedj in a single appointment. “You know, they filed a complaint eight years later…” argues Lionel Guedj, who poses as the victim of a biased investigation. “We are talking about 350 civil parties, he adds. What I can say is that at the time I had three spontaneous complaints. The other 340 complaints occurred following the summons of my patients by the gendarmes! »
On the bench of the civil parties, as the hours pass to evoke problematic cases without naming them precisely, the lawyers get annoyed, and ask to have the names of the patients whose expertise would be unfounded. “I understand that you are upset to see the file go up in smoke”, boasts Lionel Guedj in the box, provoking the sighs of his lawyer who comes to his rescue.
A question of arithmetic
“My client doesn’t have some of the elements he’s going to produce up his sleeve,” rectifies Me Pinelli. And to question the solidity of the conclusions of experts who did not have access to all the elements of the file to decide. “But these documents do not contain proof of Lionel Guedj’s innocence,” retorts Me Febbraro, lawyer for several victims. If so, say so! »
After long, sometimes tense palaver, Lionel Guedj is asked by the court to list one by one, the famous workbook in support, the problematic cases according to him among the hundreds of expertises. After a suspension of hearing allowing him to identify these names, the lawyer of Lionel Guedj announces that… seven expertises question. With, often, arithmetic errors. In one, the expert lists 23 devitalized teeth instead of 20, in the other, in another 17 instead of 14…. Each time, on the other hand, even if it means contradicting himself, Lionel Guedj admits being at the origin of these massive devitalizations, and above all, medically unjustified according to the expert opinions. A question then obsesses the president of the court of appeal. “Why did you carry out these devitalizations? »
The question is key in a case where the dentist pleads medical error, when the prosecution sees it as a more greedy and conscious motive, allowing Lionel Guedj to generate as much money as possible. And each time, Lionel Guedj brings the same answer. “If you have to go into detail, I don’t remember. But it remains a therapeutic choice. “A therapeutic choice for which Lionel Guedj faces up to ten years in prison.