Twenty-five years of French jurisprudence in criminal medical liability

International audienceWe report on a comprehensive 25-year study on criminal medical liability in France, undertaken to establish trends in the number of cases being brought before the criminal courts. We did this by interrogating the database on the Légifrance website using a Boolean equation (' pénal' (criminal) AND ' médecin' (physician) OR ' docteur' (doctor)). In total 539 cases were selected, in which the status of the physician either influenced the punishment imposed, or was a prerequisite for the commission of the offence. The results of the search produced two outcomes: offences and the dates of the most recent criminal judgements (which had been left blank). Further data were also collected: references to court cases, hearing dates, offence dates, procedural time limits, numbers of accused parties, types of punishments and physician characteristics. The number of court hearings increased from the 1980s until the late 1990s. Since then, it has remained stable at around 25 cases per year. Of the defendants appearing before the courts, 39.2% have been found guilty. On average, 10 to 13 physicians every year - that is, one per month - are punished. Those most often punished are obstetrician-gynaecologists (13%), followed by intensive care anaesthetists (11%) and then by general practitioners (6.7%). The offences most frequently occurring are manslaughter (36.5%), illegal profits (12%), unintentional injuries (11.5%) and sexual offences (10.1%). The results are most reassuring in terms of the risks posed by the practice of medicine in France. Such a risk does indeed exist; however, it is at a low level and stable.</p

Impact of a closed municipal solid waste landfill to microplastic groundwater pollution

MICRO 2022, Online Atlas Edition: Plastic Pollution from MACRO to nano , Distanciel, , 14-/11/2022 - 18/11/2022By containing high amount of plastic wastes, municipal landfills may be hot spots of secondary microplasticsfrom fragmentation and degradation. Recent studies actually demonstrated that landfills generate microplastics that can be transferred to groundwater via landfill leachates but evaluating the threat for groundwater require more researches. The former ?Prairie de Mauves? landfill, operated from 1963 to 1987 by Nantes Métropole, is a good candidate to observe the microplastic contamination of the alluvial groundwater of the Loire River. As part of the Nantes Urban Environment Observatory (ONEVU), the site is monitored since 2008. Two campaigns were therefore carried out in March and June 2022 to sample landfill leachates and groundwater. One well and 4 piezometers upstream and downstream the landfill were considered. Microplastics (> 25 µm) were analyzed by µFTIR imaging in transmission mode and with a 25 µm x 25 µm pixel resolution. Depending on their suspended solid loads, samples were directly filtered or followed an organic matter oxidation and a densimetric separation. Microplastics were observed in every sample with concentrations ranging from 10.3 to 106.7 particles/L. The highest concentrations were observed in the solid waste leachates. Twelve polymers were identified with polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) being the most predominant. Landfill leachates clearly impact the groundwater by increasing 2 to 5 times the microplastic concentrations from upstream to downstream of the landfill. The release of microplastics has nevertheless a high degree of temporal variability. Higher concentrations are observed in June in comparison to March. While groundwater water levels are similar, this increase can result from the difference of rain amounts between the 2 campaigns. The rainy period before the campaign carried out in June (16.2 mm) could have enhanced the microplastic migration from the landfill to the alluvial groundwater

Empreintes de l'Homme: Musée de Lodève

National audienceThe catalogue for the permanent exhibition at Musée de Lodève (Hérault, France) presents six hundred archaeological objects from the Languedoc (South of France). Emblematic of the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods, these vases, flint tools, bones and copper objects bear witness to an activity (agricultural, domestic, funerary, symbolic) or a skill, but above all they tell stories. With over three hundred illustrations showing not only the objects themselves but also the sites from which they came, animated reconstructions of the life of human societies of the past, and contributions from numerous archaeologists on current research, this book offers an accessible overview of regional prehistory.Le catalogue de l'exposition permanente du musée de Lodève présente six cents objets archéologiques du Languedoc. Emblématiques du Paléolithique et du Néolithique, ces vases, outils en silex, ossements, objets en cuivre témoignent d'une activité (agricole, domestique, funéraire, symbolique) ou d'un savoir-faire, mais surtout, ils racontent des histoires. Avec plus de trois cents illustrations montrant non seulement les objets mais aussi leurs sites de provenance, des reconstitutions animées de la vie des sociétés humaines du passé, et réunissant des contributions de nombreux archéologues sur l'actualité de la recherche, cet ouvrage offre une synthèse accessible de la Préhistoire régionale