France: Doctors' collective #FakeMed - a crystal-clear statement on pseudomedicine

Lesedauer / Reading Time: 5 min

A clear message from the French medical profession

On Thursday 12 April 2018, French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn made a brief statement on French television on the question of the reimbursement of homeopathy costs by public health care.

She is ” in favour of maintaining the reimbursement of homeopathy, a medicine that probably has a placebo effect but does no harm. There is an ongoing evaluation of what we call complementary medicine. (…) If they (the methods of “complementary medicine”) continue to be useful (?) without being harmful, they will continue to be reimbursed by social security. (…) The French are attached to homeopathy, it probably (!) has a placebo effect. If she can prevent the use of toxic drugs (she obviously means pharmaceutical drugs…), I think that’s a gain for the general public, it doesn’t hurt”.

A remarkable statement for an oncologist, we note.

But what – at least in Germany – had not become quite so clear anywhere, that is the reason for this statement by Mrs. Buzyn – and we consider that far more significant than the statement itself.

She reacted to an intervention by the National Council of the Medical Chamber on 22 March this year, in which the latter called on the scientific (National Academy of Medical Sciences) and political institutions (Ministry of Health) to decide on the scientific relevance of “alternative and complementary methods, namely homeopathy” – with explicit reference to the statement of the EASAC of September 2017.

In this context, there is the activity of a group of doctors called “#FakeMed”, which entered public with a press release of 28 March 2018, which leaves nothing to be desired in terms of clarity on the subject of pseudomedicine, especially homeopathy, and makes a number of very concrete demands on the Medical Association. We note with great interest and agreement that forces are forming in our neighbouring country which no longer want to accept the continuing and expanding legitimacy of sham therapies, especially homeopathy, unchallenged.

Because of the importance of the declaration from France, we give a translation here in a slightly abbreviated form:

Press Release 28 March 2018:
Fierce debate on alternative practices
The collective #FakeMed proposes:

The Hippocratic Oath is one of the oldest known ethical obligations. He demands a doctor who cares for his patients just as honestly as he does in the best possible way.

These two obligations require a doctor to constantly improve his (medical) knowledge and to inform his patients about what he can reasonably offer and which treatments are unnecessary or contraindicated.

It is not a great art – and usually rewarding – to demonstrate one’s knowledge. But it is much more difficult to recognize and accept one’s limits. One can therefore easily be tempted to offer medical care without a scientific basis. This temptation has always been there. It was and is nourished by charlatans of all kinds who use the moral credit of their qualification and reputation to promote illusory therapies with illusory efficacy.

The commitment to honesty is enshrined in the ethical codes of the medical professions and in the French Health Code. These rules prohibit charlatanry and deception, they require the prescription and execution of treatments for which efficacy has been established. They prohibit the use of obscure products or products whose ingredients are not clearly declared. The National Council of the Medical Association is responsible for ensuring that its members do not promote practices for which there is no scientific proof of benefit or which may even be dangerous. The Council must ensure that doctors do not become commercial agents of unscrupulous industries. It must sanction those who have lost sight of the ethical requirements of their profession. Nevertheless, even in 2018, the Medical Association continues to tolerate practices that contradict its own code of ethics; public institutions promote such practices or even contribute to their funding.

We are now forced to respond clearly and forcefully to the spread of these esoteric practices and the growing public distrust of evidence-based medicine.

Homeopathy, like other so-called “alternative medicine”, is by no means scientific. Their methods are based on beliefs that promise a “wonderful, gentle and safe recovery”. In September 2017, the Scientific Council of the Academies of European Sciences (EASAC) published a report confirming the lack of effectiveness of homeopathy. In most developed countries, doctors are prohibited from prescribing homeopathic medicines.

The so-called “alternative” therapies are ineffective beyond the placebo effect and can even prove to be dangerous. They can be dangerous, because they treat irrelevant symptoms, over-medicate the population (conditioning for ingestion, treatment of pure disorders and mild illnesses not requiring treatment) and create the illusion that any situation can be solved with one of their “treatments”. They can be dangerous because they are based on a fundamental distrust of conventional medicine, as the unjustified polemic about vaccines shows. Finally, they can be dangerous because their application delays necessary diagnoses and treatments, which sometimes leads to dramatic consequences, especially in the treatment of serious diseases such as cancer.

These practices are also costly for the public purse. Training for such practices takes place in publicly funded structures. “Alternative” consultation hours are opened in hospitals at the expense of other medical services. Some of these treatments are reimbursed by the (loss-making) French health insurance. In France, 30 % of homeopathic medicinal products can be reimbursed (up to 90 % in the Alsace-Moselle region) and enjoy an exceptional status exempting them from proof of efficacy. This will finance a wealthy industry whose representatives have no hesitation in massively insulting those who criticise it (“There is a Ku Klux Klan against homeopathy,” said Christian Boiron, president of the world’s leading company in the industry, in the July 15, 2016 newspaper “Le Progrès”) or simply putting aside the undeniable scientific evidence requirements.

We want to distance ourselves comprehensively from these practices, which are neither scientific nor ethical, but irrational and dangerous.

We call on the French Medical Association and the French authorities to do everything in their power to implement these demands:

Doctors or health professionals are no longer allowed to further promote these “alternative medical” practices with their professional qualifications.
Homeopathy, mesotherapy or acupuncture diplomas are no longer recognised as medical degrees or qualifications.
It must be ensured that medical faculties or institutes providing health training may no longer issue diplomas for medical practice concerning methods without scientific proof of effectiveness.
No more reimbursement for health care, medications or treatments from disciplines that refuse a rigorous scientific assessment.
Promote initiatives aimed at providing information on the nature of alternative therapies, their harmful effects and their real efficacy.
All health professionals must abide by the ethical consequences associated with their profession, which necessarily result from the ineffectiveness and irrationality of pseudomedical methods, by refusing to carry out useless or ineffective treatments. Instead, they must offer treatments according to the recommendations of scientific societies and the latest scientific findings, demonstrate sincerity and honesty to their patients and offer empathetic listening instead of “alternative methods”.

End of quote.

We are very pleased that well-founded and decisive criticism of pseudomedicine, first and foremost of its “driving force” homeopathy, is now growing together into an international activity. For Germany, this means, as we have already stated on several occasions, increased pressure to act if we do not want to fall into a health policy offside internationally and, above all, within the EU.

German health policy, German Medical Association, medical profession: We’re waiting!

Picture credits: Screenshot fakemedecine.org