Actor Arnaud Denis was euthanized at the age of 43 / “I live like a terminal cancer patient”

French actor and director Arnaud Denis, aged 43, died by euthanasia on Tuesday in Namur, Belgium, after months of severe pain and disability associated with an implant used to treat an inguinal hernia.

Denis suffered complications after the procedure on July 17, 2023, when a polypropylene prosthesis was implanted. The implant was removed in the United States in April 2024, but his health did not improve. Subsequently, the actor was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis in the context of ASIA syndrome, an inflammatory reaction associated with exposure to certain adjuvant substances.

At the beginning of 2026, Denis described the loss of autonomy and isolation caused by the illness, saying that he could no longer leave the house and that doctors no longer offered him any solutions. On March 18, he was admitted to a palliative care facility in Belgium, awaiting approval of his euthanasia request.

In January 2026, the actor filed a complaint for negligent bodily harm, but the case was closed at the end of August on the grounds that the act had not been sufficiently proven. His lawyer accused the existence of a “silent public health scandal” and argued that patients are not sufficiently informed about the risks of implants. Denis had also initiated a group for French victims of hernia prostheses.

“I live like a terminally ill cancer patient; I am more afraid of continuing like this than of dying,” he had declared.