It was following the broadcast of our report on July 5 that Doctor Coulibeuf landed on the small island of Charente-Maritime. At our microphone, Mayor Patrick Denaud made a desperate appeal to find a replacement for Doctor Laprade, himself on sick leave. Unfortunately, the Council of the Order refuses this specialist to practice general medicine.
“I took the Hippocratic oath forty years ago and this is the first time in my life that I have had to break this oath for administrative reasons”. It is an understatement to say that Doctor Bruno Coulibeuf finds himself very upset on this pretty island of Aix, far from the Var where he practiced until his retirement.
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Anesthesiologist-resuscitator, he had been affected by the health emergency that our report depicted two weeks ago. Doctor Laprade, everyone knows him in Aix and also in all the editorial offices of the local media.
“It’s a bit depressing”
It has already been four years since he could have claimed his retirement rights. Four years that the Aixois know that their medical practice is on borrowed time. And, last June, unfortunately, Dr. Laprade had to throw in the towel, for medical reasons. Just before the summer season, there was urgency.
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It was therefore last Friday that Doctor Coulibeuf left Hyères to take the Fouras baccalaureate and settle in the official accommodation made available to him. With 2,000 second homes and some 5,000 summer visitors who come to visit the island daily, he knew he was not coming to Charente-Maritime on vacation. But there was, so to speak, a little administrative misunderstanding.
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“I had the ARS which welcomed me with open arms, I had the CPAM which welcomed me with open arms, on the other hand there is a blockage with the advice of the order”, laments the retired practitioner, “I am on stand-by because a doctor can only replace a doctor of the same specialty. In my somewhat narrow mind, I thought that who can do more can do less, but apparently not. The doctor Laprade can only be replaced by a general practitioner. It’s a bit depressing because we always hear about medical deserts and when someone comes to offer his services, we put a spoke in his wheels”.
“This principle has never been called into question”
Reached by telephone between two consultations, the President of the Council of the Order of Physicians of Charente-Maritime does not understand this incomprehension and the anger, however legitimate it may be, of the mayor of the island of Aix. He first specifies that this decision was taken by his counterpart from the Var.
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“It’s a decision that both protects this doctor, who may not be able to measure the extent of things well. I speak about it with full knowledge of the facts – I have been practicing general medicine in the middle of rural – it is a specialty which is extremely difficult and, the second thing, is that it protects the population”, explains Doctor Philippe Henry, “but, in any case, from a regulatory point of view, the problem is settled. If there was a possible derogation, it would only be done at the level of the national order and after governmental agreement. You can imagine the slowness and cumbersomeness of the process and, until then, this principle has not never been questioned”.
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“Taking account of insularity”
Still, Patrick Denaud, the mayor of the island of Aix, does not take off in the face of this grotesque situation. “I call on the Minister or the national order council to put this situation in order quickly. It is not acceptable to have a doctor on an island where there are thousands of people passing through. every day and that this doctor cannot practice”, protests the city councilor, “he is a doctor who has all the qualities to make this replacement and we do not understand. Especially since there is a article of law which was voted last December which says that it is necessary to take into account the insularity and to make flexibility and adaptation in particular cases and I believe that we are in this particular case”.
Unfortunately, this law is only in the context of sustainable development issues and not health issues. In the event of a problem, the only solution for Aixois and summer visitors therefore remains to call the firefighters and, if necessary, to hope for a transfer to the mainland by helicopter. Doctor Coulibeuf, he tried to appeal to the National Council of the Order of Physicians. For now, the island of Aix will spend the whole summer without a general practitioner.
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