Two years after the start of the health crisis, an official investigation warns of a risk aggravated by this trying period. The risk of believing the promises – sometimes dangerous – of so-called “unconventional” care. Like the use of energy flows or colon hydrotherapy, for example. Decryption with Géraldine Zamansky, journalist at Health Magazine on France 5.
franceinfo: Have you read this worrying investigation into abuses that sometimes go as far as the illegal practice of medicine?
Geraldine Zamansky: Yes, this survey was carried out by the DGCCRF, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention. Already, in 2018, she had found significant anomalies by controlling players in the “unconventional care” sector.
So she started again, she found problems in 66% of the places inspected. Its teams have sometimes had to report, as you said, situations of illegal practice of medicine. That is to say people who claim to be able to diagnose a disease, and to treat it, without having the university degrees required by French law.
Is there a major risk when these people ask their clients not to see their doctor anymore?
Exactly. This is the danger to which the DGCCRF particularly alerts. Its inspectors thus discovered a professional who offered, I quote, to “liberate” his clients, including from a distance, in the event of diarrhea, pain in the heart or breathing problems.
We can guess the risks if these symptoms reflect serious illnesses and the use of a doctor is ruled out. A very real threat. You may have heard of the trial of a naturopath, sentenced this fall to no longer practice, and a two-year suspended prison sentence. Families had filed complaints after the death of their loved one with cancer, and that this man had turned away from hospitals.
And are there other types of risks?
Yes, for example, one of the popular practices is colon hydrotherapy. Those who have translated may say to themselves, well, an enema is not bad. In fact, if the water is injected with excessive pressure, the wall of the colon can be pierced…
Among other trends observed by investigators: the proliferation of Reiki healers and practices claiming an action on energy flows. Again, one might think: it can’t hurt, if it activates the placebo effect without excluding conventional care.
But as the report points out, potential customers are often, and I quote, “in a situation of great vulnerability”, especially after two years of health crisis. They then run the risk of running into predators. Several sects* are developing in this sector to attract their victims. You really have to be vigilant.
* Miviludes, the mission to fight against sects, regularly warns of these risks.