The National Council of the Order of Physicians announces that it will seize its disciplinary chambers against doctors refusing care to CMU and AME holders.
“The refusal to take care of patients assigned CMU-C and AME is deontologically and morally unacceptable”. The National Council of the Order of Physicians (CNOM) finally reacts to the controversy over doctors who had mentioned on internet appointment booking sites the words “No AME” or “No CMU”.
In a press release published on Thursday, the CNOM declares that it has asked the Defenders of Rights and associations supporting the patients concerned to provide it with the information they have noted on doctors not respecting this obligation of care.
The National Council of the Order indeed wishes to seize its disciplinary chambers, and file a complaint against these practitioners.
Discriminatory behavior
“I will take care of the needy and whoever asks for it. I will not let myself be influenced by the thirst for gain or the search for glory ”. This passage from the Hippocratic Oath, which every doctor is required to respect, must have been lost in the offices of certain practitioners.
Doctors of the World, the Federation of Solidarity Actors (Fnars) and the Interassociative Health Collective (CISS) have indeed noted on the websites for making medical appointments doctolib.fr and monrdv.com the words “not CMU ”(universal health cover) or“ no AME ”(State medical aid). Discriminatory behavior towards poor people, believe these associations, which last week seized the Defender of Rights, the independent authority responsible for defending the rights of citizens against the administration, and providing assistance in the fight against discrimination.
Denial of illegal treatment
These plans are intended for the most vulnerable patients, and concern 1.3 million and 63,000 people respectively. To these are added the beneficiaries of the complementary CMU, whose number amounts to 5.5 million patients.
In a press release published on Friday, the Defender of Rights recalled the illegal nature of a refusal of treatment. “No one can be discriminated against in access to prevention or care,” the statement said. The fact of publicly announcing the refusal of these patients, even by redirecting them to public hospitals, is contrary to articles 225-1 and 225-2 of the penal code prohibiting discrimination. “
A massive and recurring practice
He also recalled that, although these practices are rarely noted, they seem to be recurrent. The authority had therefore opened an investigation, asking the doctors to explain. The National Council of the Order of Physicians was also invited to the discussion. André Deseur, the vice-president, recalled in the columns of the World that “these practices are not tolerable. If they are proven, disciplinary proceedings will be initiated ”.
“These refusals of care for the precarious are massive and repetitive. But with this posting on the sites, one more step is taken, the rejection process is uninhibited, ”expressed indignation in the daily Florent Gueguen, general delegate of Fnars.
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