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Faced with a case of sexual abuse, she decided to break medical secrecy to report it to the courts. But since then, child psychiatrist Françoise Fericelli has been condemned by the Order of Physicians for “interference in family affairs”. And for her, that is why the law must be changed.
“This leads to not protecting a certain number of children“Françoise Fericelli is a child psychiatrist. She was convicted twice by the Order of Physicians in the context of reports she had made for suspicion of physical, psychological and sexual abuse of children she was following. “There is a somewhat paradoxical discourse: on the one hand, we are told: “Report, report, but yes, we must report.” And then, on the other hand, well, very concretely, we are likely to be condemned by the College of Physicians if we do so.“, says Françoise Fericelli.
In the case of Françoise Fericelli, it is the aggressor parent who lodged a complaint with the College of Physicians who investigates this complaint, and which leads to the condemnation of the doctor. “As far as I am concerned, I have had warnings and reprimands from the College of Physicians, but I have colleagues who have been banned from practicing for three months, or even several years.“, indignantly the child psychiatrist.
For 20 years, in France, there have been ten attempts to propose a law aimed at obliging doctors to report. These ten attempts failed. Less than 5% of reports come from doctors, even though they are on the front line to be able to observe situations of suspected child abuse.