the bill against sectarian aberrations arrives at the National Assembly

The notion of “provocation to abandonment of care” was reintroduced in committee after having been deleted by the Senate.

It is the culmination of many years of work and awareness raising for organizations, such asNational Union of Associations for the Defense of Families and Individual Victims of Sects (UNAFDI). They defend the families of sick people under the influence of gurus. The government’s bill on sectarian aberrations arrives on Tuesday, February 13, in the National Assembly. The text was already approved by the Senate at the end of December, but with several modifications to which the deputies could return during this first reading.

MPs must in particular choose whether or not they vote for the offense of “provoking the abandonment or abstention of care, or the adoption of practices” exposing them to a “serious risk to health”. This measure was reintroduced in committee in the National Assembly, after being deleted by the Senate.

The outbreak of conspiracy theories during the Covid pandemic has been a tremendous impetus for welfare scammers, mainly thanks to the internet. They are a small minority of pseudo-specialists, false naturopaths and apostles of raw eating, but their discourse hits the mark among those disappointed with conventional medicine. People who are often fragile, in a weak situation but ready to do anything to heal, have been encouraged to abandon their care in favor of questionable procedures.

The influence of alternative medicine

In certain cases documented by franceinfo, practitioners even claim to cure cancer. Several cases are even in the hands of justice. Sabine’s sister died of cancer. Until her last months of life, she was followed by the French naturopath Irène Grosjean. “The breakup with Irène Grosjean for my sister was when my sister metastasized”says Sabine.

“After doing everything right, when things get tough”Irene Grosjean “makes the victims feel guilty by saying: ‘if you are sick, it’s because you didn’t want to get well enough, or you didn’t do things as I told you'”explains Sabine. “We’re sending you to the doom and it’s your faultshe summarizes. What is at work is not a lack of intelligence, it is predators who seize prey, who are weakened, desperate and who want to get out, who want to live.

Guilt and the prohibition of doubt

In a letter, another alleged victim wrote directly to therapist Irène Grosjean, several years after being saved at the last minute by her children: “The treatment you recommended made me lose many pounds, I could no longer even climb the stairs.” This woman even claims to have refused to go on dialysis against the advice of nephrologists, because she had “all confidence” in his naturopath.

“I started losing blood from my nose, mouth and urine. You told me that this was completely normal, because it was the process of eliminating the disease.”

An alleged victim of Irène Grosjean

in a letter to the naturopath

It is associations like UNADFI, which speak out for these families of patients, who want to bring “provocation to abandonment of care” into the law. “In the process of control, guilt is the penultimate step and the last step is the prohibition of doubt”explains UNADFI spokesperson, Pascale Duval. “This is where you see the power that practitioners manage to have over their sick clients, because they manage to make them feel guilty to this extent. So the problem will not be recognized by society”she explains, specifying that some “people will think they have been victims of their naivety”.

In the bill which is passing through the National Assembly, provocation to abstain or abandon treatment would be punishable by one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros. The text also establishes as an aggravating circumstance the abuse of weakness committed by means of a digital or electronic medium. The penalties would increase from three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 375,000 euros to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 750,000 euros.