According to Eugénie Izard, prosecuted for reporting child abuse, protecting doctors who denounce the attackers “is the only way to free speech” about sexual violence against minors.
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“Doctors must be able to be protected in all circumstances, whatever happens”pleaded Thursday March 31 on franceinfo the Toulouse child psychiatrist Eugénie Izard, condemned in 2020 by the council of the Order of doctors to a suspension of activity after having reported abuse on a child. “It is the only way to free the words of doctors who will relay the words of children and allow them to be protected”judge Eugenie Izard.
“For six years, I have been living through incessant procedures”, testifies this health professional after a hearing at the Council of State, Thursday, during which she asked for the cancellation of the sanction issued against her by the council of the College of Physicians. The child psychiatrist had been sentenced to a three-month ban on practicing medicine for having made a report directly to the juvenile judge. “I was criticized for not having written to the right person”deplores Eugenie Izard.
“I reported abuse on an 8-year-old child, as I do regularly since I take care of a lot of abused children. This time, the father filed a complaint against me and then he withdrew his complaint but the Council of the Order of my department sued me.”
Eugénie Izard, child psychiatristat franceinfo
In its recommendations published Thursday, the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) rightly calls for the suspension of disciplinary proceedings against doctors. “It is a very good thing”reacts Eugenie Izard. “Doctors really need to be able to feel free to make reports, to alert in good faith.”
Today, only 5% of reports of child sexual abuse are made by doctors. Indeed, according to the child psychiatrist, “most doctors are afraid to report, to make medical certificates or attestations” because they are “very frequently prosecuted, either for violation of professional secrecy, or for interference in family affairs. […] It is above all a question of protecting the child. So we are forced to interfere in family affairs.”