INTERVIEW
The allegations are serious. Thursday, the trial of the family doctor of the small Gabin, 22 month old baby died of hunger in 2013, opens Thursday before the criminal court of Guéret. The health professional is accused of failing to assist a person in danger. In November 2019, the boy's parents were sentenced to 17 years in prison, while their child was admitted to the emergency room with "extreme dehydration" and "apparent death". The doctor had examined Gabin seven times, without ever reporting. At the microphone of Europe 1, Marie-Pierre Glaviano-Ceccaldi, vice-president of the National Council of the Order of Physicians, reviews the procedures that professionals must respect, but recalls the isolation of doctors in the field.
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A role of "location"
"We are, according to the medical code of ethics, defenders of the child. We play a role in its protection", she explains, clarifying that two types of situations can arise in the case of an abused child. "First situation, the liberal field doctor is in a role of tracking and tracing. Having suspicions about mistreatment, he would have the possibility of making a transmission of information to the CRIP, the cell for collecting worrying information ", describes the specialist. However, in this case, "we are on the lookout and the doctor does not have to bear the proof".
In the second case, "we are no longer in an emergency situation, where the doctor notes abuse, ill-treatment. And there can be a report made to the public prosecutor".
"The problem is more complicated than the fear of reprisals"
On Europe 1, Me Yves Crespin, lawyer of the association L'Enfant bleu, civil party in the trial, estimated that doctors could in certain cases not make a report for fear of "disciplinary proceedings", or of complaints filed against them "by parents or third parties who will accuse them of the violation of professional secrecy or the breakdown of a relationship of trust". But for Marie-Pierre Glaviano-Ceccaldi, "the problem is more complicated than the fear of reprisals".
According to her, "reporting is complicated", and we should "manage to establish collegiality in reporting". Because, she recalls, "the doctor in front of a minor patient is completely isolated and should not be to make this decision".
"The isolation of the doctor on the ground is a great difficulty," insists the vice-president of the National Council of the College of Physicians. The alternative could be, she concludes, "to hospitalize the child in danger. And the doctor could rely on the hospital sector to make the report".