speech is freed in hospitals

She tells for the first time, to encourage others to speak. In 2019, a young external doctor assists a gynecologist in the operating room to examine a patient’s uterus. A remark shocks her, as she has just bent down: “At that moment he said ‘I like it when they are on their knees, plus we don’t pay much for them'”. He asks her to join him in his office at 7 p.m. She refuses. “He said he was joking. He didn’t seem bothered by it at all.”she emphasizes.

Is speech becoming freer in the hospital? This week, infectious disease specialist Karine Lacombe speaks and accuses the famous emergency physician Patrick Pelloux, whom she describes as “stalker overflowing with confidence thanks to his position of responsibility”. They worked together at the Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris, when she claimed to have seen him grab an intern by the neck and rub his lower abdomen against her. Contacted, Patrick Pelloux firmly denies.

A meeting planned by the ministry

But the affair questions the hospital world. Some denounce its saucy culture. In 2021, a study revealed that nearly 50% of female medical students experienced sexist remarks, 38% sexual harassment and 5% inappropriate gestures. “It’s incredible to think that in large departments, where everyone is aware, this can still be done on a daily basis in such an open way”, warns Emmanuel Hay, president of the union of Paris hospital interns. The Minister of Health recalled that sexist violence had no place in hospitals. A meeting will be organized soon with health professionals.

Among Our sources

National Association of Medical Students of France

National Intersyndicale of Interns

#Metoo at the hospital: Patrick Pelloux in turmoil, Paris Match

Non-exhaustive list.