It is done. After months of debate, parliamentarians definitively adopted a new bill on Tuesday aimed at "better protecting victims of domestic violence". The flagship measure of this text carried by the LREM majority, the exception to medical confidentiality in the event of "immediate danger" to a patient is now introduced into the law.
Approved last week by the National Assembly, the bill authorizes the doctor or any other health professional to derogate from professional secrecy when he "considers in conscience" that the violence puts the life of the victim "in immediate danger" and that there is a situation of control.
A second legislative component
The wording was clarified by the senators on this disputed provision which touches on a pillar of the relationship between the doctor and his patient. "A doctor must be able to report a woman who might never come back alive", underlined the rapporteur of the Bérangère Couillard (LREM) project. According to several opposition politicians, including the communist Stéphane Peu, "this provision raises questions" because it "could mar the trust between the patient and the health professional". But "despite these reservations, we will vote for this bill."
This text constitutes the second legislative component in a few months of an arsenal which is intended to be offensive and has been the subject of an agreement without major difficulties between deputies and senators in joint committee, even if elected officials like associations would like to go more far. It follows the Grenelle on conjugal violence piloted in the fall of 2019 by Marlène Schiappa, then Secretary of State for Gender Equality and the Fight against Discrimination.
Declining numbers
Since the beginning of 2020, at least 39 women have been killed by their spouse or ex, according to a count made by AFP, including two murders last week. This number seems to be down compared to the previous year, but associations see it above all as a consequence of confinement, many feminicides being committed when the woman wants to leave. AFP had recorded some 70 deaths between January and July in 2019 and at least 126 cases throughout the year.
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- Health
- gender equality
- Society
- Women's health
- Women
- Domestic violence
- Medicine
- Violence against women