More than 200 people are complaining. They went to court Thursday in Paris, three of them for the offense of “manslaughter”. These complaints relate to defective sleep apnea breathing apparatus from the Philips group, lawyer Christophe Lèguevaques told AFP on Friday.
In this complaint, 217 people refer to offenses such as deception, endangering the lives of others, deceptive commercial practices, and administration of harmful substances, he told AFP, confirming information from the investigation unit of Radio France.
Three complainants also seek the offense of manslaughter, according to him. French public radio thus evokes the death of Serge Toulotte, who died in Calais hospital on April 6, 2022 from generalized cancer. His widow links this death to the use of the respirator.
According to the lawyer, these complaints from individuals will be the first to be submitted to the investigation opened in June 2022 by the public health department of the Paris prosecutor’s office.
In April, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) announced that it had taken legal action about shortcomings in the replacement of devices by Philips, which had undertaken to do so.
With this complaint, “we provide additional information to the prosecution so that it wants to entrust the investigation to an investigating judge”, underlined the lawyer.
In 2021, Philips announced a massive recall of its sleep apnea breathing devices.
Used by 350,000 patients in France and 1.5 million in Europe, they contain sound-absorbing foam, which is in question. The group noticed that particles were coming out of some devices and could be inhaled or ingested by the patient.
The group had discussed a “potential” risk of long-term cancers. But in December 2022, Philips assured that, based on extensive testing, the devices were “within safe limits”.
In January, justice ordered Philips France to communicate a document relating to its respiratory devices, claimed by representatives of patients.
In mid-May, according to tests claimed to cover most registered ventilators, the Dutch company said they were “unlikely” to harm patients.
Christophe Lèguevaques accompanies his complaint with a private report requested from Laurence Huc, toxicologist and research director at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae). According to the lawyer, this report “completely contradicts the reassuring words of Philips”.
In the red in 2022, the group announced the elimination of a total of 10,000 jobs worldwide following this recall, and announced in April that it had set aside an additional 575 million euros to face legal proceedings in the USA.