Faced with domestic violence, the Gard order of physiotherapists can now break professional secrecy
|L'objectif est de faciliter la libération de la parole des professionnels afin qu'ils puissent dénoncer les faits de violence dont pourraient être victimes leurs patients. Midi Libre – Wendy Noël
Il vient de signer une convention avec les parquets de Nîmes et d'Alès afin de faciliter les signalements dans le cadre de violences conjugales ou intrafamiliales.
"The difficulty in domestic violence is fishing for reports. Physiotherapists are an essential link in this chain of feedback , says Abdelkrim Grini, the new prosecutor of Alès. This Tuesday, February 6, alongside his counterpart from the Nîmes public prosecutor's office, the latter signed an agreement with Eric Lefort, president of the order of masseurs-physiotherapists of Gard. This should make it easier to lift professional secrecy for these practitioners if they notice that one of their patients is in a situation of immediate danger. "Until now, no one knew how to do it. This protocol is therefore going in the right direction", rejoices the health professional from Nîmes.
"A relationship of trust between caregiver and patient"
This agreement succeeds those signed between the public prosecutor's office and the Order of Physicians in 2021 and then between the public prosecutor's office and the Order of Midwives in 2023. The objective being to facilitate the free speech of professionals so that they can denounce acts of violence of which their patients could be victims, without being worried. From now on, the approximately 1,600 physiotherapists in Gard will be able to report any situation of endangerment to their order. Then the order will take care of reporting them to the public prosecutor's office who will then launch an investigation. "If the victim does not want to talk about it, but the physiotherapist notices a situation of control or injuries, he can override his consent", specifies Cécile Gensac, prosecutor of Nîmes.
"We see people naked. There is a real relationship of trust between caregiver and patient , assures Eric Lefort. Reflex sheets will thus be distributed to practitioners to give them precise information on the notion of immediate danger or influence. "This signature confirms that the & #39;judicial authority takes the violence head on even if there is still a lot of work to do and areas to explore", reacts the prosecutor ;#39;Alès. Future agreements could be made with other professionals.