A British dentist who was struck off in the UK over two decades ago is facing manslaughter charges in France over the death of a 68-year-old patient.
Stuart Molloy has been notified of a preliminary charge of involuntary homicide and suspended from working in France pending the conclusion of the inquiry into his treatment of Florence Taillade.
The pensioner was receiving implants, at a surgery in Gujan-Mestras, on the Bay of Arcachon, in Aquitaine, when she died in July last year. The dentist who owns the surgery and has not been named was also charged along with Molloy and an assistant with the additional offence of failing to assist an endangered person.
Molloy has been working as a dentist in western Paris after being banned from practising by the British General Dental Council in 2000 for giving unnecessary treatment to ten patients at his practice in Little Cawthorpe, Lincolnshire. The council found him guilty of serious professional misconduct after hearing what the media at the time called “horror stories” about his victims.
He had given 18 unnecessary root fillings to a man who had visited him with a cracked tooth and sore tongue. Another patient suffered broken facial bones after visiting Molloy’s practice complaining of pain in her upper jaw and paying £2,000 for treatment.
Advertisement
Taillade, a resident of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe who was visiting her family in France, was charged €35,000 (£29,500) for a series of implants. She suffered a cerebral oedema, a condition that causes brain swelling, and became unresponsive minutes after the start of her anaesthetic.
The dentists waited for about half an hour before calling emergency services, Sud Ouest, the regional newspaper, said. Taillade’s sons filed a criminal complaint with the local prosecutors.
Rudyard Bessis, Molloy’s lawyer said the dentist denies the charges. There were no suspicious circumstances, he told the newspaper. If there had been any suspicion, authorisation would not have been given for cremation, he said
There had been no delay in the emergency call, he said. “At the start, they slapped her to see if it was serious. When they saw she didn’t react, they called for help. All the procedures were followed, perhaps not perfectly, but they were done,” he told Sud Ouest. These included cardiac massage and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Philippe Courtois, lawyer for the patient’s family, told the newspaper: “The two dentists remained staring at one another, wondering what they were going to do to get out of the situation.”
Advertisement
Investigating judges obtained samples of Taillade’s blood taken by the hospital at the time of her death because she had donated her organs. They found traces of Valium and a benzodiazepine anti-depressant. Expert evidence to the investigating judge said a possible Valium overdose was suspected.
The dentist said he had administered the Valium, but not the benzodiazepine. “In no way did my client administer a lethal dose of Valium,” Molloy’s lawyer said. Molloy, who is not in custody, is contesting the prosecution and the order to desist from practising in France until the conclusion of the case.
At the time of his UK ban, Molloy’s case was cited as part of a pattern of unnecessary treatment and overcharging by British dentists. Sir Nairn Wilson, chairman of the professional council at the time, said of Molloy: “The most disturbing aspect of this case was the practitioner’s own over-confidence in his skills and abilities … In particular, he showed no understanding of the limits of his own confidence.”