The choice is welcomed by a large part of the medical community as well as by the slayers of pseudo-medicine: following the controversy born at the end of August around certain naturopathic practices, Doctolib, a start-up that has become a leader in making appointments. you medical professionals in France, has chosen to no longer reference the proponents of “well-being” practices. “Only professions that have an ADELI or RPPS number, therefore that are referenced by the health authorities (regional health agencies, ministries), will be able to use the services of Doctolib”announced to World, Wednesday, October 26, Stanislas Niox-Chateau, co-founder and CEO of the company.
More concretely, 5,700 practitioners of activities such as naturopathy, personal development coaching, or more esoteric, such as magnetizers or mediums, will be excluded from the company’s services; the latter gives them a period of six months to reorganize.
The controversy around certain alternative practices was born, on August 22, from a video posted on Twitter by the collective L’Extracteur, which wants to fight against pseudo-medicine. Irène Grosjean, a figure of naturopathy, now in her nineties, praised the practice of “derivative baths” for feverish children. It consists of “to rub” using a cloth dipped in ice water, the genitals. “At first he [l’enfant] won’t agree”, explained the naturopath, recommending to insist. Beyond that, the collective recalled that Irène Grosjean advocated other dangerous practices, such as fasting for pregnant or breastfeeding women.
The indignation born of these remarks – which Irène Grosjean assumed, explaining, on August 26 on Facebook, that it was a “thousands of years old practice of health hygiene” – had quickly touched the Doctolib platform, accused of referencing practitioners of pseudo-medicine, in particular naturopaths, including some disciples of Mme Grosjean.
The company had started by defending its line, posing as a simple directory meeting the needs of its customers, and considering that it was not up to it to issue an opinion on these practices, which are otherwise legal. Faced with a general outcry, even from the College of Physicians, Doctolib had quickly delisted seventeen practitioners, while promising to launch a consultation, which led to this decision.
Doctolib has not yet reached profitability
In practice, a doctor adept in homeopathy or naturopathy may continue to be present on Doctolib, but not a naturopath or a magnetizer, for lack of a reference system allowing the degree of competence of these practitioners to be measured.
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