Two people pretended to be child psychiatrists on the medical appointment platform. The mother who consulted them, the Order of Doctors and Doctolib filed a complaint.
Le Monde with AFP
An investigation was opened in July for “illegal exercise of medicine” against two people having pretended to be child psychiatrists on Doctolib, announced the Montpellier prosecution on Friday August 26, confirming Information from France Inter .
A mother had filed a complaint in early July after consulting, via the medical appointment platform, a false child psychiatrist and her replacement in order to obtain a prescription for drugs for her two children with a disorder Attention (ADHD), confirmed M e Madeleine Archimbaud, lawyer for the complainant, at the France-Presse agency (AFP).
“We set up all this file because she really thought she was dealing with a real doctor, by having passed through the Doctolib platform. We are not talking about a simple general practitioner but a child psychiatrist, The facts are serious, “she added.
The order of doctors” shocked “by the absence of control
The Council of the Order of Doctors of Hérault also filed a complaint for “illegal exercise of medicine”. And the platform, considering itself “victim of fraud”, said on Friday that it also “filed a complaint against X” on July 22.
The two false child psychiatrists would have provided consultations, before the platform stopped their subscription and removed their profile in early July, explained the president of the Council of the Order of Doctors of Hérault, the D R Philippe Cathala, at AFP.
“We were shocked by the lack of control of practitioners by Doctolib. They then deleted the profile and stopped the subscription but we are surprised by the registration process on this platform. should strengthen it, “insisted the D r Philippe Cathala.
250,000 referenced practitioners
Doctolib was also recently accused of references naturopaths to questionable practices. Thursday, the platform announced that no appointment could be made before the verification of the right to exercise is effective.
For this, Doctolib has decided to delete the fifteen-day period which has so far been granted to healthcare professionals so that the new installed can open up the appointment upstream of the opening of their office. It was during this period that the two false child psychiatrists had been able to make consultations.
Since the creation of the site in 2013, on nearly 250,000 practitioners referenced, the platform says it has been the victim four times of individuals who created false profiles by usurping in particular the identity of health professionals, the last two cases of fraud dating from June and August 2022.
“The general public must also have the reflex to go to the site of the Council of the Order where all the doctors who can practice are referenced. It is disappointing that a company like Doctolib, who knows this principle, Do not do it automatically, “deplored the D r cathala, specifying that the complaints filed against people using false diplomas are common.