A veterinarian was acquitted in May 2022 of forgery and use of forgery for writing false prescriptions that enabled the suicide of a suffering friend Charcot disease, was found guilty on appeal in Angers on Thursday November 30th. The supervisor remained unpunished.

The 59-year-old friend, who suffers from this incurable neurodegenerative disease, was found dead in his home on May 21, 2019. His autopsy revealed the presence of a deadly molecule from veterinary euthanasia products.

A judicial investigation for murder and attempted murder had been initiated against the veterinarian, but these proceedings were finally discontinued during the course of the investigation. The approximately 60-year-old veterinarian was ultimately prosecuted for providing false prescriptions. He was released in 2022 for this forgery and forgery of documents, but the prosecution appealed.

At the criminal court hearing, the practitioner stated that he did this “first rejected” to respond to his friend’s request and finally give in to his need. He left a writing before he took his own life: “This time you really have to let me go. »

“If assisted suicide is not a criminal offense, the means provided are. There is legislative hypocrisy. We dare not condemn euthanasia, but we indirectly prevent it. This falls short of a clear debate about the end of life and its ethics.”That’s what defense attorney Antoine Barret estimated at the end of the appeal hearing at the end of June.