The sanction on appeal against Didier Raoult is heavier. The Order of Physicians prohibits him from practicing medicine for two years, from February 1, mainly for his unfounded promotion of hydroxychloroquine against Covid, according to a decision revealed this Thursday, October 3 by The Parisian and consulted by AFP. The Marseille scientist is accused of having violated several articles of the public health code, especially by promoting a treatment based on hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19 without reliable scientific data.
In December 2021, this earned him a simple reprimand from the national disciplinary chamber. The reprimand imposed at first instance was a sanction “too lenient in view of the breaches identified”, estimated Dr. Gilles Munier, representative of the Order of Physicians, during the appeal hearing which was held last June in Paris. On appeal, the national disciplinary chamber of the order of doctors ruled that “Professor Raoult did not base his public positions on confirmed data, did not exercise caution and promoted a treatment insufficiently tested”, in its decision dated October 2.
Lack of scientific rigor
But, as in the first instance, she considered that Professor Raoult did not cause his patients to run “an unjustified risk”, among other things because the prescription of hydroxychloroquine respected the doses usually recommended and because “he knowingly excluded ( …) patients who presented the highest risk factors”. Professor Raoult, on the other hand, is criticized for his study at the University Hospital Institute (IHU) of Marseille on around 30,000 patients without the green light from the health authorities, and for his publication not respecting “scientific rigor”.
Through his criticism of widespread vaccination and confinement, he “harmed, through remarks devoid of weight, the measures taken by the health authorities for the purposes of protecting public health”, also considers the Order of Physicians. The sanction also targets the “absence of brotherhood” of Didier Raoult towards colleagues or other establishments. He made “comments going beyond the framework of freedom of expression”, for example by contrasting his results with those of Parisian hospitals where “they counted the dead” or by affirming that another doctor had “conducted tests in which children died.” Asked Thursday morning, his lawyer Fabrice Di Vizio replied to AFP that he had not yet been able to learn of this decision. Retired since the summer of 2021 from his position as university professor-hospital practitioner, Didier Raoult was replaced a year later at the head of the IHU. The Marseille prosecutor’s office is investigating suspicions of unauthorized clinical trials.