The emergency card distributed to homeless people in Marseilles was supposed to contain information on the diseases or allergies of their bearer. In front of the outcry, the town hall reviewed its copy.
Continuation and end for the controversy of the “Rescue Card”? If the town hall of Marseilles assures us that the withdrawal of the badge distributed to the homeless Marseillais “is not of topicality”, it does not prevent that its scope has been greatly reduced.
This card, which originally had to be worn visibly by the homeless and had to include the name, first name and social security number of the person, as well as his chronic illnesses, was reviewed by the Marseille municipality. In a press release, Xavier Mery, Deputy Mayor for Integration and the Fight against Exclusion, explained that the emergency card would not ultimately contain “any medical information intended to remain confidential other than the blood group of the bearer. “Contrary to what was announced at the beginning of September during its presentation, the relief card will not have” vocation to be visible to all “, according to Xavier Mery.
“An unethical approach which should govern the health care of our fellow citizens”
This card had caused an uproar last week in Marseille and a hundred people demonstrated on Wednesday in front of the Town Hall, at the call of the association “The Last Judgment”. Visiting Marseille, the Minister of Health had also sharply criticized the approach: “Beyond the unpleasant nature of seeing a yellow triangle affixed to the clothes of some of our fellow citizens, I mean that it is not acceptable that the state of health and pathologies of citizens be written in black and white on their chest. This approach seems to me to be absolutely contrary to all the ethics that must govern the health care of our fellow citizens and I hope that the initiators of this approach will put an end to it as quickly as possible ”, thus expressed Marisol Touraine on Wednesday 3 December.
However, in 2006 the Minister of Health at the time, Roselyne Bachelot “had asked [à l’inventeur de la Carte Secours] to add the name and telephone number of the attending physician to make it more official ”, declared Philippe Grivolas at the microphone of France Bleu, who says he is “disgusted” by the controversy.
The yellow triangle, a shocking symbol
Beyond the content, it was the symbol that had shocked. The yellow triangle conspicuously worn around the neck is a particularly disturbing symbol for many associations: Education Without Borders Network and the League of Human Rights have criticized the resemblance between this card and the yellow star that the Jews were obliged to wear during WWII.
The emergency card also had to be declared allergies, date of birth, attending physician, or the person to be notified. 300 cards were distributed in Marseille.
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