Two surgeons have been banned from practice after a billionaire died during a penis enlargement procedure at a private clinic in Paris.
The deceased, Ehud Arye Laniado, a Belgian-Israeli diamond dealer and billionaire, died in 2019 while undergoing the procedure at the Saint-Honoré-Ponthieu clinic in Paris.
According to court findings, Laniado had been receiving treatment from a surgeon identified as Guy H two to four times a year.
The procedures, which involved injections to make the penis appear larger, were reportedly often carried out outside normal office hours.
Following Laniado’s death, French authorities opened an investigation initially focused on possible manslaughter.
However, prosecutors later revised the charges to include failure to assist a person in danger, drug-related offences, and practising medicine without a licence.
Last Wednesday, a French court sentenced Guy H to 15 months in prison and ordered the suspension of his medical licence.
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A second surgeon, who had been operating in Guy H’s place, received a 12-month suspended sentence.
In addition to the prison terms, the court ordered the two practitioners to pay fines of €50,000 (£43,323) and €20,000 (£17,329) respectively, according to Le Parisien.
Investigators reportedly ruled out the penis injection itself as the direct cause of death. However, questions were raised over the medical response following Laniado’s collapse.
“When investigators looked into the cause of death, the injection into the penis was quickly ruled out,” a source told Le Parisien.
“The question remained why the surgeon had made an initial call for help at 8pm, before a second call, this time to the fire department, two hours later.”
The source added that Laniado had a known ulcer, which may have complicated the assessment of his condition at the time.
“It’s easy to say in hindsight that the heart attack started there, but since the patient had an ulcer, it was impossible to consider a heart problem, and emergency services wouldn’t have been called out for such a minor issue,” the source said.
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