LA fever rises at Doctolib. The French heavyweight in making medical appointments, at the heart of a controversy because it refers to naturopaths with questionable practices, announced on Thursday its desire to strengthen the verification procedures for professionals referenced on its site. Health professionals and patients have criticized the group for allowing its users to make appointments with naturopaths, some of whom have dangerous practices, close to quackery and sectarian aberrations.
This Friday, the Radio France investigation unit discovered several even more serious cases. It is not, this time, esoteric alternative medicine, but fake doctors who, registered on the Doctolib platform, were able to consult. Two crooks who claimed to be psychiatrists are notably targeted by an investigation opened in July by the Montpellier prosecutor’s office for “illegal practice of medicine”.
Fifteen days before verifying the right to practice
Carole, a mother who needed the renewal of a prescription for her children suffering from attention disorder with hyperactivity (ADHD), remembers from France Info a “lunar” conversation: “The pathology of my children is called ADHD. So I spoke to her with this abbreviation, but I could see that she didn’t understand. »
Rather than using the Doctolib platform, the psychiatrist directly sends a care sheet, which is obviously false. The mother then reports this psychiatrist and files a complaint in the process, the departmental council of the order of doctors of Hérault does the same. Carole was consulting this psychiatrist for the first time, replacing another doctor who also turns out to be a usurper.
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Doctolib acknowledges that a doctor can be listed on its site for a period of fifteen days before his right to practice is verified, in order, in particular, that newcomers can open appointments before opening of their office.
This point is precisely part of the improvements announced on Thursday by the platform to fight against this type of practice. No appointments can be made on Doctolib before the verification of the right to practice is effective. For this, the platform has therefore decided to remove this 15-day period.