The association L'Enfant Bleu announced on Thursday that it had filed ethics complaints against three doctors who, in the context of their responsibilities to the Finistère Medical Council, allowed the pedophile Joël Le Scouarnec to practice despite a conviction for possession of child pornography.
The former surgeon in his seventies was sentenced in May 2025 by the Morbihan criminal court to 20 years imprisonment for sexual violence against 298 victims, most of whom were minor patients and in a "state of sleep" at the time of the events.
Back in 2005, he had already been sentenced to four months in prison with a suspended sentence for downloading images depicting sexual violence committed on children by adults.
But Joël Le Scouarnec continued to practice without hindrance at the hospital center in Quimperlé (Finistère) and in various establishments in western France, multiplying the victims until his arrest in 2017.
Neither the health authorities, nor the hospital institutions, nor the various bodies of the Order of Physicians had acted to regulate his medical practice.
Believing that "serious breaches of ethical obligations" were committed in the handling of the Le Scouarnec case, the association L'Enfant Bleu has filed a complaint against three doctors who held positions of responsibility within the Departmental Council of the Order of Physicians of Finistère (CDOM 29) in 2006, explains its lawyer, Me Jean-Christophe Boyer, to AFP.
The CDOM was aware of Joël Le Scouarnec's conviction, and heard from the doctor about it, the latter having admitted the facts.
However, when asked whether viewing pornographic images featuring children violates medical ethics, the CDOM of Finistère voted no almost unanimously (18 no, one abstention).
The Order will decide to let the administration "manage".
With its complaints, L'Enfant Bleu wants to "raise awareness," says Me Boyer.
During the investigation, "the medical boards have the option of joining the complaint or not, so they will issue an opinion. We want to take the pulse and see if, from an ethical point of view, doctors have progressed a little in their thinking over the last twenty years," he insists.
Since one of the three doctors targeted by the Blue Child complaint is the current president of the CDOM of Finistère, the case will be transferred to another region, according to the lawyer.
In the wake of the Le Scouarnec trial, the Lorient prosecutor's office announced in July 2025 the opening of a judicial investigation against X for willful failure to prevent crimes and offenses.
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