Beyond the debate on the place of alternative medicine on its platform, Doctolib must also defend itself in another controversy, this time relating to the verification of the professionals present on its site. Two recent cases have caused trouble. The first relates to fraud, and concerns justice: the Montpellier prosecutor’s office confirmed, on Saturday August 27, that it had opened an investigation in July for “illegal practice of medicine” against two people who posed as psychiatrists on Doctolib.
In this case, revealed by France Inter, a mother consulted the two fake doctors – posing as a psychiatrist and her replacement – in order to obtain a renewal of a prescription for her children. Intrigued by the lack of knowledge in psychiatry on the part of her interlocutors, who claim technical problems to use text messaging rather than a videoconference, her suspicions increase when she receives a manifestly false care sheet. This encourages him to report the facts and file a complaint. The Hérault Order of Physicians and Doctolib also took legal action.
The platform explained that the two bogus practitioners, who were only able to deceive a few patients before being spotted, had taken advantage of the time allowed to professionals registered on Doctolib to justify their right to practice. Until now, the company has allowed practitioners to make appointments as soon as they register, so during the period of verification of their right to practice, which usually takes a fortnight.
Claims of practitioners
A protocol adopted, ensures Doctolib, following the claims of practitioners, worried about being penalized by the sometimes long delays before having their administrative registration. But that the company preferred to modify after the controversy. From now on, it will be impossible for a professional to give appointments before having seen his file duly checked by the teams of the platform.
But if it is relatively easy to confirm that a doctor does indeed have a right to practice, by means of his identifier with the health authorities, this is not the case for naturopaths and other unregulated professions, which generally only have a registration number in the trade and companies register. On Monday August 29, a Virgin Radio host, Fabien Delettres, filmed himself registering as a naturopath on Doctolib. The host produced a fake diploma from a Belgian naturopathic school, and played a part during a telephone conversation with a ” expert ” of the digital business.
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