The product recall campaign takes a legal turn.
The public health center of the Paris prosecutor's office took up several complaints on June 20 from users of defective Philips respirators, Le Parisien learned on Thursday, confirming information from franceinfo.
The preliminary investigation is open for the counts of "aggravated deception", "involuntary attacks on physical integrity", "endangering the lives of others" and "administration of harmful substances", detailed the Paris prosecutor's office .
It should shed light on the conditions under which this respirator was marketed and the possible health problems it could have caused.
A potentially carcinogenic substance
The start of the case dates back to June 2021, when the Dutch electronics brand recalled a series of defective respirators, used by patients suffering in particular from sleep apnea.
In question: a foam inside the device that could become carcinogenic or cause asthma, coughing or irritation by decomposing.
Read alsoSleep apnea: are Philips devices carcinogenic or not?
But in February, some people using this respirator would still not have been made aware of its potential danger, almost seven months after the alert.
The National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) then took a binding measure against the industrial giant to force it to go faster on replacing the devices.
