Still too many charlatans on Doctolib? The platform asks for help from the authorities to sort

Still too many charlatans on Doctolib?

In October 2022, Doctolib had sorted out well-being professionals by removing 5,700 magnetizer practitioners, iridologists, naturopaths… But according to an article in Parisianmany practitioners continue to offer techniques which have no scientific validation and have never demonstrated their effectiveness, despite their often prohibitive price and their “clever” names: oligoscan, microkinesitherapy, biokinergy, cupping therapy, quantum osteopathy, etc.

This patamedicine makes certain practitioners scream like Pascale Mathieu, president of the National Council of the order of masseurs-physiotherapists who speaks in the columns of Le Parisien: “These are charlatanesque practices within the meaning of the public health code“.”There is charlatanry, but also notably sectarian deviations, while Doctolib has a reputation based on the excellence of health professionals.“, also alerts an Ile-de-France resuscitator.

No legal basis to sanction pata medicine?

To help in this sorting, certain documents allow the platform but also the general public to distinguish evidence-based medicine from patamedicine: the Miviludes report on sectarian abuses related to health and well-being, table of illusory techniques from the order of physiotherapists… But despite these documents, several practitioners still offer reiki, despite being singled out by Miviludes, microkinesitherapy without scientific basis.

Questioned on the subject by our colleagues, Doctolib states that these practitioners are registered as psychologists, osteopaths, dietitians and thus benefit from an official health professional number. If the latter want to display these esoteric practices on their file, Doctolib considers that they need legal arguments or directives from public authorities before sanctioning them: “No objective criteria today makes it possible to distinguish them — particularly on a legal level — and Doctolib cannot, alone, sort things out or state the law.“. Because in the absence of a legal argument, the platform could have difficulty responding to a censored practitioner who files a complaint against it for censorship…

Is it only up to Doctolib to sort things out?

The platform calls for a real regulatory framework. A wish shared by the orders of several professional orders more ready to point the finger at Doctolib’s “failures” than to sort through their own ranks. The lack of response from public authorities contributes to this situation which places validated medicine and the metaphysical excesses that we thought were confined to the Parapsy salon on the same level.

More than a list of permitted and prohibited practices which would make validators run behind the inventiveness of profiteers (nothing prevents today from launching into, why not, quantum astrobiokinergy…), should we not mobilize the orders of the various health professions so that they act with the public authorities and sanction their members who confuse profit and care?

There is the good and the bad Doctor…

In August 2022, Grégory Ninot, teacher at the University of Montpellier and at the Montpellier Cancer Institute and above all author of a book on the subject, 100 alternative medicines validated by sciencetold us: “The fact that French and European law do not qualify scientifically verified alternative practices leaves room for charlatanism. Today, it is still very easy in France to set up a school, training, to create methods that have no scientific basis. Not only is this dangerous, but it also undermines non-drug approaches validated by science (because there are some), which can indeed help patients.“.

Because the issue is not to cast shame on all alternative medicines, as this expert clarified: “The High Authority for Health has been calling for a classification of non-drug medicines since 2011, in order to clearly detail the scientific data of each method, the results, the protocols, etc. This repository does not exist, and it is a lack“.

For Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician and medical director of Doctissimo: “Not everything has to be thrown away and some complementary medicines are useful. We, health professionals, must guide and direct the patient. The problem with the offer on Doctolib is that everything is put on the same level, with illicit practices and great confusion for patients looking for answers.“.

In terms of alternative medicine and well-being, the challenge is to give credibility to professionals who work well, commit to ethical rules, on responsibility for side effects, who are capable of providing proof.