A French doctor who asked his female patients to unnecessarily remove their bras will serve time in jail and have his medical licence revoked, judges have ruled. The unnamed 48-year-old GP working near the port city of Saint-Malo in the northwest Brittany region has received a four-year jail sentence after he committed multiple sexual assaults. The city’s criminal court heard 22 complaints were filed against him by former patients who said they were inappropriately and “systematically” asked to remove their underwear during routine appointments.

According to local publication France Bleu, the complainants dated back to 2019, between January and November, after the doctor opened a private practice in Ille-et-Vilaine.

The complaints said the doctor had them remove their bras during consultations for back or knee pain.

They also alleged that the doctor “repeatedly palpated their breasts” to screen them for breast cancer.

Some of the doctor’s victims claimed he was insistent on making these palpations and complained that he kissed their chests.

One victim, who was 87 when she filed her complaint to local police in 2019, said he “kissed my chest” in testimony read out to the court.

Another 64-year-old former patient said she “felt his penis against me” and thought he was “rubbing himself against me”.

Others claimed he had “grabbed their breasts” during a police investigation.

The doctor denied the allegations, stating he conducted the procedures for professional reasons.

He told the court: “I have always practised with professionalism and respect.”

And he claimed the allegations resulted from “misunderstandings” and “misinterpretation”.

The defendant said he carried out the palpations as “medical acts”.

Judges also handed the doctor a permanent ban on practising medicine.

He is also banned from working with minors and has had his name added to a judicial registry of sex offenders.

He cannot appear in Ille-et-Vilaine for five years following his imprisonment.

Additional reporting by Maria Ortega

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