Dentists can’t believe it. In any case, their representative, the president of the Order, is dismayed. “You would have told me that 20 years ago,” exclaims Christian Couzinou, in the columns of the Parisian.
It must be said that the case seems from another age. The AIDES association wanted to assess the attitude of dentists towards people with AIDS. Its members used the testinga method developed in the 90s by SOS Racisme to point out the problem of racial discrimination at the entrance to nightclubs.
But there, the activists of the association called 440 dentists to make an appointment, specifying that they were HIV positive. “3.6% of them purely and simply refused to see the patient because of HIV”, specifies the newspaper.
But above all, 30% of professionals put forward fallacious pretexts to dismiss this request (unsuitable equipment) or to dissuade the patient (excess fees, restrictive schedules, etc.).
The same operation was carried out with 116 gynecologists. AIDES recorded 2 dismissals directly related to HIV. Disguised refusals were limited to 4%.
However, the Public Health Code prohibits any discrimination, under penalty of civil and criminal penalties, recalls Christine Mateus in The Parisian. But the sanction is limited to a reprimand on the part of the Order. Christian Couzinou affirms that these behaviors are the subject of prosecution when the cases are proven. But the president of AIDES wants to go further. For Bruno Spire, patient representatives must be “closely associated”. Testing should become, according to him, a legal proof of a discriminatory attitude.
First published June 4, 2015
