“A real hell”: following botched hemorrhoid operations, twelve patients sue their surgeon

Plusieurs personnes incriminent un chirurgien proctologue de Besançon, dans le Doubs. ILLUSTRATION MIDI LIBRE

A doctor from Besançon is the subject of prosecution following hemorrhoid operations that patients accuse him of having botched.

Confirming information from L’East Republican, the Besançon prosecutor announced that he had opened a judicial investigation for involuntary injuries "following four criminal complaints and five civil proceedings seeking compensation concerning facts related to hemorrhoid operations leading to incontinence".

According to the regional daily, 12 patients from Doubs and the neighboring department of Haute-Saône incriminate Doctor Luc Clemens for interventions carried out between 2017 and 2023 at the Franche-Comté Polyclinic.

This proctologist surgeon (anus and rectum specialist) has in certain cases re-operated on patients, without managing to improve their condition, according to the newspaper. A patient cited by L’Est republican confides that he has been living a nightmare since "a nightmare".

"I'm still going through hell seven years later"

"My sphincter has been damaged beyond repair. While I should have healed in four weeks, I am still going through hell, seven years later. I have terrible burns, blisters, I have to wear protection all the time. I can't go out, so as not to have to go to the toilet in a hurry. I lost my job. My partner left me in 2019. I have to take pills to sleep".

According to L’Est republican, patients ended up turning to specialized hospital services, in Lyon, Metz or Paris, "only to be told that they were too affected by their initial surgery to consider a return to a normal situation".