Raoult accused of promoting treatment without "confirmed data"

Raoult accused of promoting treatment without “confirmed data”

Posted On: December 12, 2021

L.The disciplinary body of the Order of Doctors of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine imposed a reprimand against Professor Didier Raoult after examining the complaints filed against him. In its judgment, the panel referred to “information that was not based on confirmed data” by promoting hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19.

On Friday, the chamber held the Marseille specialist in infectious diseases responsible for it, without making the reasons for this sanction public. However, she did not accept the allegations of “charlatanism” and “unjustified risks” for prescribing this treatment to patients, despite the lack of proven effectiveness.

“Professor Raoult has provided information that has not been based on verified data through various media, including his own channel within the media, YouTube, without exercising the necessary caution, while deep uncertainties about the appropriate treatments for Covid-19 have emerged very quickly. “Details the Bordeaux-based establishment where the audience was disoriented far from Marseille.

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Allegations of charlatanism refuted

The Chamber is therefore of the opinion that the Director of the University Hospital Institute for Mediterranean Infections (IHU) of Marseille has violated Article 12 of the Code of Ethics, which obliges doctors to present the public “with caution” and on the basis of “confirmed” scientific “data “. The board also notes that Didier Raoult “disclosed a new, inadequately tested treatment method” in medical circles without “necessary reservations”.

He also “failed to fulfill his duty of comradeship” by speaking “inappropriately, rudely, even aggressively” against other doctors, the board added, including the guilt attributed to the infectious disease specialist on Friday. On the other hand, the panel did not uphold the allegations of “charlatanism” and decided that the “P^R. Raoult did not take an unjustified risk for his patients by prescribing hydroxychloroquine in the usual recommended dosages.

A considered appeal

A “victory”, said Didier Raoult’s lawyer, M^e Fabrice Di Vizio, who is “satisfied” with this decision. “The main allegation in this case, and it is still not nothing, is that he killed patients” and the board believes that “he did not unjustifiably risk his patients,” underlined M^e Di Vizio with AFP.

Professor Raoult has been charged by the Bouches-du-Rhône Medical Order and then by the National Council of the Medical Order (Cnom) for violating several articles of the Medical Code of Ethics by promoting and prescribing treatment based on hydroxychloroquine Covid-19 to this day despite the lack of proven effectiveness.

The CNOM should meet on Thursday to discuss a “possible objection”, its press service told AFP on Tuesday without further comment. Professor Raoult has been retired as a university professor and clinic practitioner since August 31 and is due to leave the management of the IHU in a few months.