While the hierarchy of Doctor Nicole Delépine has decided to close its service which treats childhood bone cancer, the mobilization of an association of parents continues.
“Dr Delépine’s retirement means that a unit which does not respect good practices is left to remain, at the very moment when the AP-HP affirms, in its strategic plan, its commitment to apply the recommendations of the “Cancer Plan III” explains a press release from the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris -AP-HP at the end of April. So she scheduled the closure of this unit, specializing in bone cancer at Raymond-Poincaré hospital in Garches (92), after the retirement in July of the pediatrician and oncologist, aged 67. . Even the patients will not be left without care because their transfer in particular to a hospital in Boulogne Billancourt has already been planned, for a group of parents gathered within the Ametist association, this is a decision ” intolerable ”. At the end of April, they also filed a claim for “neglect” before the Nanterre tribunal de grande instance.
Faced with the anger of parents, the AP-HP puts forward its arguments
According to the hierarchy of Doctor Delépine, the closing of the service will not take place for reasons of people but for questions of respect “of the recommendations of good practices, established by the High Authority of Health, the National Cancer Institute and the learned societies ”. For the AP-HP, the pediatric oncology service violates many rules, in particular the care of adults in a children’s service and non-compliance with good practices, in short those proposed in the “Cancer II Plan”. Even if the service of Dr. Délépine “reports very favorable figures (80%) concerning the 5-year survival of children treated according to an original protocol”, the AP-HP reproaches him for not submitting studies proving the effectiveness of its research. It also recalls that no evaluation request for the protocol that its service uses has been made.
Dr Delépine’s “original” protocol, but not so alternative
In an interview with AFP, Dominique Hauteville, oncologist at Paul-Brousse hospital in Villejuif explains that even if most practitioners have never wanted to recognize the methods of Dr. Delépine, the treatments she provides are effective and are not revolutionary and have been around for 30 years. Indeed, Dr. Delépine’s protocol is based on the use of a drug commonly used in oncology, methotrexate. However, instead of administering it according to standardized protocols, she would simply use it in higher doses until the tumor has shrunk and the patient is able to take it. The problem is that despite cure rates supposedly over 80%, the oncologist does not accept that her method is evaluated in an official clinical study.
Parents who hire a “unique” service in France
On the Association’s Facebook page Ametist which campaigns in favor of safeguarding the service of Doctor Nicole Delépine, the message is clear, despite the decision of the APHP, it is essential to avoid the closure of this unique place of care in France! They are also calling for a demonstration on Tuesday, May 20 in front of the Ministry of Health to demand Freedom of Care. “In Raymond-Poincaré, we fight to the end, tells AFP Sophie Masset, whose son has a fibula tumor. Doctors told us that Hugo might not keep his leg. In Garches, he was operated, it went well and today we are in the home stretch, ”she says. Dr Délépine is greatly appreciated by patients for his alternative methods based on individualized and “more humane” treatment of the patient. Some families sometimes cross the whole of France for their children to be treated in Garches, especially in cases of bone cancer. And for these parents, as long as the service is not definitively closed, the fight continues. A petition against this closure has already collected more than 20,000 signatures.
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