“It is absolutely essential that doctors take up these themes”, asks the Order

“It is absolutely essential that doctors take up these themes as quickly as possible to carry out screening-identification and guide the victims”, asks Thursday March 31 on franceinfo the vice-president of the council of the Order of physicians Marie-Pierre Glaviano-Ceccaldi. While the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Abuse of Children (Ciivise) advocates an obligation to report for doctors and that they are protected from disciplinary proceedings, Marie-Pierre Glaviano-Ceccaldi ensures that “Doctors aren’t really afraid to report abuse.”

>> VIDEO. Sexual violence against children: “The priority is to secure” the victims, intimates the co-president of the Ciivise

The Incest Commission regrets that only 5% of reports of sexual violence against children are made by doctors. “Reporting sexual abuse is part of an obligation to protect”recalls Marie-Pierre Glaviano-Ceccaldi. “The doctor must make every effort to protect the child, on the medical level, on the medico-social level and on the medico-judicial level”assures the general practitioner, also president of the National Committee for Domestic Violence. “When the risk is serious, it is a report to the public prosecutor, when it is a suspicion, it is information to the departmental cell for the collection of worrying information (CRIP)”.

A doctor who alerts to a situation of violence may expose himself to prosecution, such as a referral to the Council of the Order of Physicians, for having lifted medical secrecy. The Ciivise recommends that these disciplinary proceedings be suspended. “Anyone has the right to lodge a complaint with the order of doctors (…) and the ordinal institution does not have the power to stop a procedure”, still recalls Marie-Pierre Glaviano-Ceccaldi. “Unfortunately, and we are outraged, it may be the perpetrator of the violence, and I can tell you that everything is done to be able to surround the professional and help him build his file”, indicates the vice-president of the council of the Order of physicians. In order to “managing the risk of reprisals”, “vigilance violence security” commissions were created within the departmental councils of the College of Physicians, explains Marie-Pierre Glaviano-Ceccaldi.

To improve the reporting of sexual violence against children, the council of the College of Physicians hopes that “Each department will be equipped with a pediatric reception unit for children in danger (UAPED) which will be able to operate 24 hours a day”, indicates its vice-president. When they exist, doctors can “direct towards these specialized units”, says Marie-Pierre Glaviano-Ceccaldi. “These kinds of complex situations must be managed in complete collegiality, in the interest of the victim.”