Didier Raoult’s Covid investigation: Government initiates disciplinary proceedings against three medical practitioners

The study drew condemnation from Professor Didier Raoult. Three medical practitioners who signed a publication describing unannounced clinical trials on Covid patients during the pandemic have been subject to government disciplinary proceedings, AFP reports.

Three practitioners were captured

Confirming the information from La Provence, the press agency reports that since mid-December the disciplinary jurisdiction of the staff of the University Hospital (JDHU) has been taken over by Research Minister Sylvie Retaillo and former Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau.

According to the ministry, at the center of this new part of the Didier Raoult scandal are three medical practitioners who signed a study on “clinical trials carried out outside the regulatory framework.” Those affected were Professors Mathieu Million, head of the day hospitalization department of the IHU-MI (Hospital-University Mediterranean Infectious Diseases Institute), Philippe Parola, head of the department of acute infectious diseases, and Philippe Brooki, a specialist in infectious diseases.

JDHU has several sanctions ranging from a warning to revocation, including reprimand, scale reduction or even automatic revocation.

Hydroxychloroquine study

Their paper, published online in the journal Emerging Germs and Emerging Infections, presents results from an analysis of more than 30,000 patients treated in 2020 and 2021. It demonstrates the purported benefits of hydroxychloroquine in the early treatment of Covid.

According to the ministry, such treatment is the result of “inappropriate and dangerous orders, the methodology of which is questionable and constitutes a new violation of ethical and professional rules.”

Justice Seized

After the study was published in 2022, the ANSM (National Agency for the Safety of Medicines) filed a lawsuit. At issue is the fact that the publication did not obtain the permits “necessary and mandatory to ensure the safety of patients.”

Widely discredited by his colleagues, Professor Raoult was dismissed from his hospital duties in August 2021 and no longer leads the Marseille Institute. Thus, an infectious disease specialist cannot be the subject of a referral, the ministry emphasizes.

Carrying out or carrying out research on human subjects without permission is punishable by “one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros,” the Public Health Code states.