Dentist Charged Over Death in France Had Been Banned in UK
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- Published: Thursday, 18 July 2024 10:11
- Written by Peter Ingle
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A dentist who left the UK after being removed from the register in 2000 has now been charged over the death of a patient in France.
At the time while practicing in Lincolnshire, Stuart Molloy was found guilty of 11 charges of serious professional misconduct. There were clincal shortcomings and allegations that he had been carrying out unnecessary treatment. One example involved a patient receiving 18 root treatments that were not indicated.
He then went to work in France with high profile practices in Paris and Bordeaux. It was an episode in the south-western practice that has led to him facing charges from prosecutors over the death of a patient. He cannot leave France or practise dentistry in the meantime. Another dentist was also involved.
According to the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office one of the dentists is charged with involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist a person in danger, and banned from leaving the country. A second dentist and their assistant were charged with failing to assist the patient, and also barred from leaving the country.
The patient was 68 year old Florence Taillade, from Guadeloupe, who died after going in for dental work in July 2023. She had been unable to find treatment in the French Caribbean territory for her dental problems.
According to her son, a friend put her in touch with a dentist in mainland France, who in turn said she "knew someone" who could help. That dentist, based near Arcachon on France’s southwestern coast, has also been charged with failing to help a person in danger.
Mme Taillade underwent the procedure on July 3rd last year and died of cardiac arrest the next day in a hospital in the city of Bordeaux.
According to the plaintiffs’ lawyer Philippe Courtois, Molloy said he could remove six of Taillade’s teeth and replace them with implants for 20,000 euros. But, "the next day she got the quote and it had gone up to 35,000 euros," her son M. Bonvoisin said, showing a document with the figure. Despite this, Taillade agreed to go ahead.
She believed that "a big-shot" was "doing her a favour," her son and his sister recalled.
Hours after leaving his mother at the dental practice on July 3, 2023, Guillaume Bonvoisin was told by police she was suffering "heart problems" and that he should come immediately.
It is claimed that emergency responders were not called until 15 minutes after the first signs of cardiac arrest. Molloy’s lawyer, M. Bessis said that when he realised that the patient was unconscious they had slapped her “to see if it was serious” and then called for help. He claimed that mouth to mouth and cardiac massage were carried out, saying, “all the actions were taken, maybe not perfectly, but they were taken.” However it appears that the call to emergency services was only made after being alerted by an endocrinologist near the office, that an assistant had summoned. On arriving at the scene emergency services said that no one was trying to revive the patient.
While Taillade had been cremated, some blood was still available for testing, as the family had consented for organ donation. According to Guillaume Bonvoisin the sample was positive for "sizeable quantities" of Diazepam as well as Stilnox and Xanax. Molloy has only admitted to giving the Diazepam. According to the victims son she had been promised “a horse dose” by the dentist.
The dentist’s lawyer said that his client had given only "one pill" to Taillade to, "relax her.” He has said that that Molloy did not administer a whole "cocktail" of drugs.
Taillade’s children said she had agreed ahead of the operation to take Valium, although she usually only used homoeopathic remedies.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer has said that "once you’re struck off in one country, it’s strange that you can practise somewhere else".
In contrast, Molloy’s lawyer said: "When you’re struck off in England, that has nothing to do with France." In common with his client, M. Bessis is a struck-off former dentist.
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