After Vienna, Pau and Clermont-Ferrand, doctors are now authorized to lift medical secrecy in Seine-et-Marne, in order to alert the court to cases of domestic violence.
This was made possible thanks to the signing on Wednesday May 5 of an agreement signed by the public prosecutor of Meaux Laureline Peyreffite, the president of the Ordre des médecins de Seine-et-Marne Claire Siret, and the associations of help for victims of domestic violence.
A project that follows the law passed on July 30, 2020, allowing doctors to speak out in the face of the confidences of certain patients about violence within the home.
Read also: Domestic violence: doctors, poor lookouts
While doctors will have no stricto sensu obligation to report cases of domestic violence, this convention aims to make the profession aware of the signs which do not deceive, and which require an urgent response from the courts.
Two fundamental criteria included in this agreement allow the medical profession to assess the situation of victims: the prosecution recommends alerting if the person is in "
immediate danger
" and if the patient "
is not in a position to protect himself. due to a process of influence
”.
"Culture of reporting"
“
This agreement represents the start of awareness-raising and training work in which the Meaux prosecutor's office will participate. It will be organized by the Order of Physicians with forensic pathologists, who know the requirements of the medical world but also those of the legal world. The final objective is to promote communication between medicine and justice
”, explains to
Figaro
the prosecutor of Meaux. "
Any decision to report a doctor will not be subject to any verification or prosecution, the idea is above all to protect the victim,
" said the prosecutor.
Any specialist can thus report cases that he considers "
at risk"
, based on a precise diagram indicating the procedure to be followed: the doctor is not obliged to obtain the agreement of his patient to report. violence, but he must nevertheless inform him of his approach, give him the number of associations to help victims, and encourage him to file a complaint before alerting the judicial authority.
Read also: Domestic violence: the Order of Physicians in favor of a partial lifting of medical confidentiality
“
The main obstacle we faced was ethics. However, the fact that the
Bar
Council signs this agreement with us shows a common desire to act, and is
likely
to reassure and encourage physicians,
”says Laureline Peyreffite. In addition to this guarantee of the support of the profession, support by forensic pathologists will also be put in place, so that, in case of doubt, the doctors concerned can ask them for advice concerning the assessment of the seriousness of the facts.
With their forensic expertise, they will be able to guide doctors on the signs to spot in order to pass on to them this “
culture of reporting
”. "
It can be for example to determine the age of the bruises in order to understand if the blows are recurring
", we are told. The Meaux prosecutor is convinced, "
this knowledge of the world of victims and of the legal world can help doctors understand the psychology of the victim
", and, ultimately, save lives.
