Dr Patrice Mattiuzzi, a Luxembourg-based dentist with a history of legal issues in France, faces permanent cessation of practice in the Grand Duchy following allegations of fraud, forgery, and professional misconduct.

Dr Patrice Mattiuzzi has been practicing as a dentist in Luxembourg for close to ten years. As of 30 January 2024, he will however be forced to close his Bertrange office for good and will in fact be barred from ever practicing again in the Grand Duchy. That is the verdict that the Superior Disciplinary Council of the Medical College announced on 20 December last year.

The prosecutor's office confirmed that Dr Mattiuzzi has been facing another legal complaint, which the the National Health Fund (CNS) levelled against him for suspected forgery and fraud in 2017. Investigations in this matter are still ongoing.

What triggered proceedings in the first place was an official complaint from his assistant, filed with the sanitary inspectorate. "He was only interested in earnings", argues the woman, who started working in the office in 2016 after being referred to the position by the National Employment Agency (ADEM).

According to allegations, tools were reused on multiple patients and only the cheapest material was processed. The assistant has further accused the dentist of making unnecessary treatments. Apparently, the sanitary inspectorate also temporarily shut the office at one point as the machine to sterilise equipment was not working.

Another extraordinary fact in the matter is that the practitioner's legal troubles go beyond the borders of the Grand Duchy. Dr Mattiuzzi faced trials in France in 2011 and 2020 for issuing fraudulent bills, eventually being barred from practicing in the country in 2022.

Though initially exonerated in both cases, Dr Mattiuzzi lost an appeal in 2013 and was given a financial penalty of €30,000. In May 2022, he was further given a suspended prison sentence of 18 months, another €250,000 fine, and a five year occupational ban in France.

At the time of the latest verdict, Dr Mattiuzzi had already been working in Luxembourg for close to eight years, having opened his Bertrange office in 2014. He is also known to have requested a work permit in Switzerland, which was however denied in July 2014 due to the ongoing legal troubles in France.

The absence of a coherent cross-border system in Europe that stipulates that a physician can no longer practice in one country when having their license revoked in another contributed to the lengthy duration that Dr Mattiuzzi was still allowed to treat patients here in Luxembourg. His former assistant hopes that cases like hers will be better reviewed in the future.