EXCLUSIVE – Didier Raoult banned from practicing medicine: the troublemaking of the Council of the Order of Physicians

04 October 2024 / Jerome Goulon

This Thursday, we learned that Didier raoult had received a two-year ban on practicing medicine, and this from February 1, 2025. A decision taken on appeal by the national disciplinary chamber of the Council of the Order of Physicians, while in the first instance, the professor had only received a simple reprimand. A sanction deemed too light by the Council of the Order, and which was therefore very significantly increased.

As a reminder, it all started at the beginning of November 2020. The National Council of the Order of Physicians had launched proceedings against Didier raoult for violation of brotherhood, misinformation of the public et exposure to undue risk and quackeryThis procedure followed a series of reports from hospital doctors who deplored the "overexposure" de Didier raoult.

While the sanction may seem extremely severe, the prosecutions against Didier Raoult are not a real surprise: since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, the Marseille professor has been attacked from all sides, and some seem ready to do anything to discredit him or bring him down. Criticized for having advocated hydroxychloroquine against Covid-19, Didier Raoult, who denounces the conflicts of interest in Pharmaceutical industry and lobbying by Big Pharma, clearly seems to be disturbing at the highest levels. Proof of this is the initial complaint of the Council of the Order of Physicians for quackery which seems disproportionate. A ruthless and very reactive Order of Physicians with doctors who are not in its good books, like Professor Raoult, but which sometimes seems to strangely turn a blind eye to very serious medical errors, or else open them extremely late. Interviews is surprised, key examples, of this selective outrage and double standards...

Medical errors: when the National Council of the Order of Physicians seems to turn a blind eye

The Sports Clinic
The scandal of the Sports Clinic illustrates the impunity that some doctors seem to enjoy, or at least the astonishing slowness of the Council of the Order to react, in contrast to its extreme speed that it demonstrated for Didier Raoult. Between 1988 and 1993, 58 patients contracted a serious infection there with serious disabling after-effects: the tools were rinsed with unsterilized running water… The surgeon Didier Bornert and the director, Pierre Sagnet, were only convicted on appeal on June 12, 2013, more than 20 years after the events! And one victim waited until July 2013 to obtain €560 in damages.

Mathéo, victim of a medical error
January 2012, a surgeon from the Polyclinique de Franche-Comté, Olivier Destuynder, was sentenced to a one-month suspended prison sentence and a 5 euro fine for a mistake made… in 000! Untroubled by the Council of the Order of Physicians, he has since been able to practice freely and with impunity. However, he destroyed the life of a nine-month-old baby by removing a healthy kidney, when he was supposed to remove the other kidney. The child is now on dialysis…

The scalpel enthusiast
The case of Doctor Gilles Colnet illustrates the apathy of the Council of the Order of Physicians when certain major interests are not at stake. This neurosurgeon, a spinal column specialist, has received more than 100 complaints. Since 1994, his patients have accused him of erroneous diagnoses, inappropriate techniques and unnecessary interventions. Two of them have died. Despite very serious errors, his peers refused to strike him off the register for life. A sanction that will finally fall in April 2005, under pressure from the victims…

Shame
One of the biggest medical scandals remains that of growth hormones, where seven doctors were accused of involuntary manslaughter and deception. Between 1982 and 1986, their experiments, to help 1 children grow, led to the death of 698 of them. In 117, however, the doctors were acquitted due to lack of evidence. According to a lawyer, the bigwigs of the Council of the Order did everything to cover up the affair and protect the doctors. A scandal within the scandal in short...

When the National Council of the Order of Physicians seems to protect some of its peers

Immunity
Another notable case: that of the Birembaux family. In 2004, the parents took their daughter Amélie, 9, to the Clinique Montréal in Carcassonne for appendicitis. The surgeon punctured an artery. The two other doctors present misinterpreted the scan of the hemorrhage. The child died. The courts recognized the medical error. In 2006, Dr. Cohen was suspended for 12 months. But ultimately, the Council of the Order of Physicians overturned the sanction… Another notable case: that of the Birembaux family. In 2004, the parents took their daughter Amélie, 9, to the Clinique Montréal in Carcassonne for appendicitis. The surgeon punctured an artery. The two other doctors present misinterpreted the scan of the hemorrhage. The child died. The courts recognized the medical error. In 2006, Dr. Cohen was suspended for 12 months. But finally, the Order of Physicians annulled the sanction, as well as that taken against another practitioner present during the tragedy... 

The stillborn
In December 2010, Jean-Luc and Corine Vuoso went to the maternity ward in Arles for the birth of their child. The gynecologist wanted to postpone the birth, despite the mother's objections. On January 2, 2011, Corine Vuoso returned to the maternity ward, but gave birth to a stillborn baby. The parents' complaint was dismissed, as the fetus was not considered a human being. The gynecologist, for his part, was never troubled by the Council of the Order...

The drama
On July 29, 2000 in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Toufic Seklaoui delivered little Philippe Giardina. The baby had a growth on his skull. The doctor refused to perform a caesarean section and used spatulas. The child lacked oxygen and was born with motor and cerebral disabilities. In July 2012, the courts fined the Nice doctor €13. The parents sued him before the Medical Council, but Seklaoui received only a simple reprimand. A much less severe sanction than that imposed on Didier Raoult…

The pervert
Gilbert Tordjman was a star of sexology. He also gave his valuable advice on RTL in the 1990s. But in 1994, one of his patients sent a letter to the Council of the Order of Physicians, accusing him of sexual abuse. It was a waste of time… Subsequently, 7 complaints and 33 testimonies would overwhelm the doctor. Some of them accused him of rape since 1988! And it was in 2002 that the courts would ban him from practicing. What about the Council of the Order? At the time, it only gave Tordjman a light reprimand…