British dentist charged in France after death of patient

Prosecutors in Bordeaux have charged two dentists in relation to the death of a woman after dental treatment in July 2023.

One of the dentists, who is British, was previously struck in the UK for offering expensive treatment to patients who did not need it, according to regional paper Sud Ouest. 

Florence Taillade, 68, died just hours after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest while having dental surgery in the town of Gujan-Mestras in the Gironde, on July 3, 2023. She was having several lower teeth removed to make way for implants.

She became unwell a few minutes after being injected with local anesthetic, her son, Guillaume Bonvoisin, told France 3 in February. 

“When I dropped her off that morning, she was smiling, a little stressed by the operation. I never thought I wouldn’t see her alive again,” he said. 

She was taken to Pellegrin hospital in Bordeaux, where she died the next day. 

Bordeaux’s public prosecutor has charged the two dentists with “failure to assist a person in danger” and manslaughter”. One is a Paris-based dentist who was assisting in the procedure, reports Sud Ouest. 

Mrs Taillade was visiting her children in France from the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, where she had retired. 

Her children had filed a complaint against the dentists for involuntary manslaughter in November 2023, saying the hospital had suggested their mother’s cardiorespiratory arrest could have been caused by an overdose of anesthetic.