As soon as Didier Raoult's intervention was completed on June 24, they called each other, exchanged emails and SMS. "We were stunned, shocked by the serious accusations he was making against a whole profession," says Karine Lacombe, head of infectious diseases at the Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris. Affected, the doctors… but not sunk! Ten days after its hearing by the National Assembly's commission of inquiry on Covid-19, the white coats decided to respond firmly to the very popular infectious disease specialist from Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), who promotes hydroxychloroquine as coronavirus treatment.
In the solemn enclosure of the Palais Bourbon, Professor Raoult had attacked the management of the epidemic by Parisian hospitals for three hours and stunned the scientists. The counter-offensive arrived this Wednesday July 1 in the evening by Martin Hirsch, who estimated that the bursts of Raoult could "be akin to a false testimony".
In the viewfinder of the boss of Public Assistance - Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP), the figures advanced by the researcher: 43% of mortality in intensive care in the capital, against 16% in the city of Marseille. This Thursday, July 2, it is the turn of the High Health Authority (HAS) and the Scientific Council to take offense at its accusations of conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical laboratories. "Infamous words", "slander", "intention to deceive", they write to parliamentarians.
A "fallacious" comparison that "twists science"
Still in the night, while in full custody at the Pitié-Salpêtrière in Paris, Jean-Michel Constantin remade the film of the hearing. "Between two and three in the morning, I was pissed," said the assistant secretary general of the French Society of Anesthesia and Resuscitation. He does not digest the "fallacious" comparison between services. "It's twisting science. Here, in intensive care, we admitted the most serious patients, on invasive ventilation, and not the patients on oxygen as in Marseille. These were in intermediate units that we created for the Covid. It was therefore not the same level of severity. "
Especially since for Professor Xavier Lescure, infectious disease specialist at Bichat, these figures mean nothing. “Presenting raw data is useless, it must be related to the severity of the cases. However, the 43% Didier Raoult did not get out of his hat. They were even written black and white in a report by the AP-HP crisis unit of April 14.
VIDEO. Professor Raoult explains to deputies
A contradiction that the entourage of Professor Raoult, joined this Thursday, likes to recall: "If Martin Hirsch has a problem, let him coordinate with his department heads!" They themselves give these figures, so we should know. Except that these statistics correspond to a given period, at the height of the crisis, and not to an average during the epidemic. But then, what about the numbers? Mystery. Martin Hirsch will communicate them at his hearing before the same Assembly next week.
"His speech will rot families' lives"
The fact remains that this battle of numbers, launched unilaterally by Raoult, is not without consequences. "He insinuates that the doctors in Paris did their job poorly," bounces Xavier Lescure, moved. He disrespects his colleagues but above all he disrespects the people who have died, those who have suffered, all the families affected. I think of them. So nothing is to be reviewed? "Of course, we made mistakes but we don't have to be ashamed. We are able to make our self-criticism, not him, "says the infectiologist, tired, after a first controversy over hydroxychloroquine, to" replay the match OM-PSG ".
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Same anger with his colleague Jean-Michel Constantin: “His galloping megalomania, I don't care. But there, his speech will rot families' lives. If I had lost a father in Paris, I would be in all my states and I would say to myself: Maybe everything was not done . I'm mad with rage. However, the resuscitator knows Raoult well. He was his pupil 25 years ago and does not deny his skills.
"He is gunning down his career"
"He is in the process of destroying his career, which is remarkable," breathes the man who until then had spared the master. There, the cup is full. "When he talks about microbiology, tests, he is very good, when he talks about therapeutic trials and patients, he switches to incompetence", exclaims the head of the infectious disease department of Pitié-Salpêtrière, Eric Caumes .
"Doctors have no choice but to raise their voice," says Karine Lacombe. The reply could be even harder. “Lying under oath is serious. We are no longer in criticism, but in defamation. According to her, this deserves "ethical sanctions". Which ones? “Complaints have already been made before the Council of the Order against doctors. For Raoult, it is under study! "
