Trials, threats, disclosures of private documents and stink balls in the press… For several months, the National Order of Nurses has been shaken by particularly violent internal wars. A situation widely deplored, while this young institution (created in 2006, when the Order of Physicians has existed since 1940) faces numerous burning issues. The body must carry the voice of nurses in the multiple political reforms underway: occupational health, mental health, prerogatives of nurses in advanced practice in terms of prescribing medications, etc. It must also ensure the ethics and professional conduct of the profession. .
These missions are all the more difficult given that the Order only has 538,000 registered out of 650,000 or 700,000 professionals – a figure impossible to measure precisely – even though registration is compulsory. “We are not even capable of agreeing within an organization that is supposed to set an example! However, we must agree, among other things, to improve our protection on the ground when we go alone to patients’ homes,” fumes a trade unionist nurse.
The contested election of the president
The first tensions erupted last April, when the Order was preparing to elect a president for three years during elections taking place in three rounds: at the departmental, regional and national level. Patrick Chamboredon, president of the Order since 2017, was defeated on April 2 during the second round. He published a press release on April 4 to inform of his defeat. However, his political line has not been eliminated: Alain Desbouchages, presented as his successor, is still in the running. He is expected to be one of the favorites, just like his competitor Sylvaine Mazière-Tauran. The election promises to be close. But on April 17, the day before the last round, an article implicating Patrick Chamboredon appeared in Marianne. The newspaper reports two complaints filed against X, potential embezzlement and “terror management”. The next day, Sylvaine Mazière-Tauran was elected president – by one vote.
The outcome of the vote is not to everyone’s taste. As of May 2, eight nurses file an appeal to the Paris administrative court : they demand the cancellation of the elections and the holding of a new ballot as a matter of urgency. According to them, the article Marianne constitutes an act of “electoral propaganda” which would have “undermined the sincerity” of the vote: by attacking Patrick Chamboredon, he would have discredited his supporters. The plaintiffs put forward another, more serious argument. The candidacy of Sylvaine Mazière-Tauran would be illegal since the latter presented herself as a candidate for the Rhône-Alpes region when she should have presented herself in Ile-de-France.
According to them, the Public Health Code as well as the Order’s internal directives require all nurses to register on the Order’s roll of their place of residence and/or work. Candidates for elections can only run in the region where they are registered. However, they suspect Sylvaine Mazière-Tauran of living in the Paris suburbs because she has an address in Levallois-Perret and is a member of the local Rotary Club. Accused, the newly elected president presents documents suggesting that she resides in Caluire-et-Cuire, in the Lyon suburbs. In addition to this supposed violation of electoral rules, some do not hesitate to assert that Sylvaine Mazière-Tauran did not report her move because her chances of being elected in Ile-de-France would have been zero due to a lack of a sufficient political network. . “
The president’s private information released
On May 28, the Paris administrative court gives his opinion and rejects the application for interim relief on the grounds that the condition of urgency is, according to him, not met. End of the affair? Far from it. “The court considered that the urgency criterion was not met. But we maintain our appeal on the merits which should be decided within a year or more,” explains Maître Jacques-Henri Auché, the plaintiffs’ lawyer . The disruption of the electoral process by the article published in Marianne as well as the legality of Sylvaine Mazière-Tauran’s candidacy are therefore still on the table.
A few months later, on September 5, 2024, a person presenting himself as a “whistleblower in Paris” sent an email to the 58 members of the national council and to the 70 department and region presidents. He reveals the last three tax notices of Sylvaine Mazière-Tauran which prove that she has resided in Levallois-Perret since 2022. “The fraudulent obtaining and dissemination of tax documents concerning me constitute a serious illegal practice and criminally reprehensible, denounces Ms. Mazière-Tauran, interviewed by L’Express These offenses violate my private life and fully justify the criminal complaint that I filed on September 10. 2024. I have also alerted the tax authorities who have initiated an investigation. The president of the Order believes that the challenges to her election come from “certain elected officials, a very minority” and indicates that she prefers to devote herself “to defending the interests of the nursing profession, with the elected officials of the National Council of the Order and all elected officials present in the territory”, recalling that “the task is immense”.
A “very damaging” war
The national council of the Order seems in any case to place its confidence in the new president. “These documents do not matter, because the president is retired and in this case the Public Health Code, which takes precedence over our internal directives, indicates in article R4311-55 that retired nurses are assigned to the college to which they reported at the time. of their retirement’, and in this case the last place of practice – in Rhône-Alpes – is authentic”, assures L’Express Nicolas Milleville, elected to the national council and president of the regional council of Hauts-de-France. “The criticism leveled against me has no legal basis, assures Ms. Mazière-Taurantn interviewed by L’Express. The legal and regulatory texts link me professionally to the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region and constitute the only criterion that must be taken into consideration “.
“For our part, we consider on the contrary that the Public Health Code requires nurses to register on the roll of the department in which they wish to establish their professional residence and, for retirees, to register on the roll of their place of residence”, replies Maître Auché. A legal question that judges will have to decide. “As for the influence of the article on the elections, the answer can be found in the General Electoral Code. In our opinion, it is obvious that this publication affected the sincerity of the votes,” continues the plaintiffs’ counsel. In any case, both camps agree on one point: they deplore the dissemination of Sylvaine Mazière-Tauran’s private documents.
“All these cases are very damaging, because we have a lot of work and much more important things to deal with,” adds Nicolas Milleville. “When you want to kill your dog, you say it has rabies,” analyzes a unionized nurse in reaction to the article targeting former president Patrick Chamboredon. The trade unionist is not more tender towards the attacks against the new president: “She is retired, she has the right to pay her taxes and to live near Paris. All of this is a story of a deplorable power struggle. In my opinion, the real problem is that the Order is mainly led by men, while the profession is made up of 80% women!” Atmosphere.
Mysterious disappearances
To avoid spoiling anything in this already heavy climate, many observers were surprised by the disappearance from the Order’s website of fact sheets warning about the potential dangers and abuses of twelve pseudotherapies such as auriculotherapy, anthroposophical medicineor even naturopathy. They were carried out by the former presidency of the Order in collaboration with the Sectarian Phenomenon Study Group (GéPS) and after consultation with the Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight against Sectarian Abuses (Miviludes). Their publication in November 2023 was considered a strong act, especially since studies show that, in the world of health, the people who are most likely to adhere to alternative practices and who are most reluctant to vaccinate are nurses and caregivers.
But these files disappeared overnight, without explanation. “We learned accidentally of the disappearance of the twelve information sheets on alternative medicines, regrets the GéPS. We had taken particular care in their writing with an analysis of data from the scientific literature and the press had highlighted the quality of this work , so this reversal surprises us. Should we see possible pressure from the proponents of unconventional medicine?
“The National Order of Nurses is currently carrying out work on this subject in the Public Health Commission. In this context, it was decided to withdraw these sheets, in the event of their updates. The Order pays the greatest attention and the greatest vigilance in the development of unconventional practices”, replies Ms. Mazière Tauran. What about possible internal or external pressures? “It’s a bit of a James Bond story,” says Nicolas Milleville. “The files have been removed to be reworked and clarified, it is planned that this work will be carried out in a commission of which I am a member. The new files will be put back online, probably in 2025,” adds the elected official. Why did the national council not warn its members or the general public? No one seems to have thought it necessary to do so. Their publication will, undoubtedly, be closely scrutinized. Just like the decision of the Paris administrative court.
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