During the hearing on August 22 before the criminal court of Evry, this nurse anesthetist had admitted to having stolen and taken an ampoule of fentanyl, a powerful opioid used to anesthetize or calm the pain of patients. Crimes committed at his workplace, the hospital of Longjumeau (Essonne), on the night of June 18 to 19, 2023.
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This 53-year-old man was sentenced last Friday to eight months in prison suspended for two years, with obligation to treat his addictions, for these facts of "theft by a person in charge of a public service mission during the exercise of his mission and illicit use of narcotics". He is also prohibited from practising his profession for two years. Civil party, the hospital group north Essonne had asked for a symbolic euro in damages, which was granted.
He says he suffers from pain
Since March 2023, when he was hired, hospital teams had been put on alert following disappearances of fentanyl ampoules. On the night of June 18 to 19, 11 ampoules vanished while no patient was hospitalized. The nurse in question was on vacation that night, in the room where these bulbs are located. He admitted to taking a blister and injecting it on the spot because he said he was suffering from "breathing difficulties and pain".
In 2022, the nurse had already been convicted of using fentanyl, a substance classified as a narcotic. He appealed the judgment and has since been under the care of an addictologist for this addiction.
