2024-01-31 06:00:19
On January 12, the Ile-de-France disciplinary chamber of first instance of the Order of Physicians rendered a decision in a case between an occupational physician, Jean-Louis Zylberberg, and an SME in the Ile-de-France region which he monitors. , Valente Securystar Doors.
The company, specializing in the manufacture of armored doors, filed a complaint following the health professional issued notices of incapacity to several employees. “An occupational doctor who writes twelve in two years in a company with only around sixty employees, that raises questions”, estimates Massimo Valente, its president. Which pointed out what it considers to be shortcomings in the procedures which resulted in these opinions. What Mr. Zylberberg disputes.
“Society judges that these are opinions of convenience”deplores the latter, who believes that relations with the entrepreneur are biased: “I have the label of a “red”, committed doctor, who would only make oriented decisions. But the reality is that employees are suffering. » The disciplinary chamber retained “breaches of medical ethics” and imposed a one-year ban on practicing, including six months suspended, and the payment of 1,000 euros to Valente Securystar Portes. Mr. Zylberberg decided to appeal.
An occupational doctor before the ordinal authorities: although the situation remains rare, it is becoming more and more frequent. The risks of prosecution for non-compliance with medical ethics have increased in recent years for health professionals. “It is a free procedure, which may have been perceived by employers as a means of pressure, capable of curbing what they sometimes considered to be the extravagant impulses of occupational doctors”explains Sophie Fantoni-Quinton, president of the French Society for Occupational Health.
Compliance with procedures
An action which above all has the advantage of proposing, before any instruction by the disciplinary chamber, a preliminary phase of conciliation between the occupational doctor and the complainant – who can be an employer but also an employee. “Many complaints will then be resolved, with the healthcare professional retracting or changing their mind”, continues Ms. Fantoni-Quinton. When face-to-face, he often has in mind the sanctions to which he is exposed: warning, reprimand, temporary ban from practicing or removal from the list of the order.
Another threat is carefully observed by occupational physicians: the risk of industrial tribunal proceedings, which might invalidate an opinion. “It is a long dispute, which puts employers in a situation of legal uncertainty which can extend over several years. It is therefore used less and less”tempers Mrs Fantoni-Quinton. “But whatever its appeal for businesses, we all think regarding it”assures for her part an occupational doctor from Marseille, who did not wish to give her name.
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