The disciplinary chamber of the regional council of the order of doctors of the Grand-Est announced, Friday, November 25, the suspension for one year of the medical activities of the former deputy of Bas-Rhin Martine Wonner. This trained psychiatrist and figure of “covidosceptics” was the subject of two complaints for controversial remarks on masks and vaccines against Covid-19. “This decision is totally scandalous. I am extremely and deeply concerned about freedom of opinion and freedom of expression in our country,” she reacted to AFP, expressing her intention to do so. call. “I knew it would be a political decision. Did the ordinal justice have the legitimacy to summon me? The whole question is there. In any case, it gives me all the energy I need to continue to fight on the political level”, she added.
The former MP, elected under the LREM banner in 2017 before being excluded from the parliamentary group in 2020, had been summoned in early November by the body after two complaints filed in 2021 by the association “No FakeMed” – which has for aim “the promotion of medicine based on scientific evidence” – and by the National Council of the Order of Physicians (CNOM). “It’s a good decision,” reacted to AFP Dr. Jean-Christophe Breton, member of “No FakeMed”. “This is the second elected sanctioned by the disciplinary chamber. This confirms that a declaration outside Parliament engages ethical responsibility. But the psychiatrist has already announced that she will appeal this decision. appealed, so we will have to wait for the new decision,” he said.
The appeal is suspensive – it therefore suspends the decision of the bar association council, the time to examine the appeal. But Martine Wonner no longer practices medicine since the law of August 5, 2021 which prohibits health professionals who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 from practicing their profession. She now devotes herself to her party “Together for freedoms”.
“Misinformation” Promotion
The former MP (2017-2022) had notably claimed that the mask “was strictly useless” and that vaccines against Covid-19 could trigger “miscarriages”, “multiple cancers” and transmit “AIDS” . During a demonstration against the health pass, she also called for “laying siege to parliamentarians” and “invading their offices”.
During the hearing, the plaintiffs claimed that Martine Wonner had promoted “erroneous information” and had broadcast on her Twitter account (where she presents herself as a psychiatrist) “protocols of care” against the Covid “without foundation scientific”, in particular ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine. The complainants had also argued that parliamentary immunity did not apply to comments made by the former MP outside the Chamber. According to them, she “used her quality as a doctor to express her opinions”, in particular when she went to rallies denouncing the wearing of the mask, or when she argued that the PCR tests gave false results.
The defense had, on the contrary, maintained that Martine Wonner expressed herself well as a member of parliament and not as a doctor because, although still registered with the departmental council of the Bas-Rhin order of physicians, she had no longer exercised her medical activity since her election in 2017. Martine Wonner is not the only one to be in the sights of justice after having made skeptical remarks during the epidemic of Covid-19. On November 4, the disciplinary chamber of the order of doctors of Burgundy Franche-Comté had pronounced a ban on the practice of medicine for 9 months against the radiologist Alain Houpert, senator LR of Côte-d’Or, for “misconduct ethics”. Another example: that of Professor Christian Perronne, released by the council of the order of doctors of Ile-de-France on October 21, 2022. He was prosecuted by the National Council of the order of doctors for his very critical positions to the government’s vaccination policy.