The Order of Physiotherapists wants to permanently ban caregivers who sexually assault them

While the paedophile surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec is being tried in Vannes, the Order of Physiotherapists proposed on Wednesday 26 February to systematically ban from practice any caregiver convicted of acts of a sexual nature.

"The Order of Physiotherapists is in favour of any health professional who has been definitively convicted of sexual offences being subject to a permanent ban on working with patients, similar to the system provided for in national education and the world of sport," he said in a press release .

"The aim is to protect patients by preventing any risk of recurrence in the professional sphere," explained the Order.

This position comes as surgeon Joël Le Scouarnec is being tried at the Morbihan Assizes, accused of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults, often on minors , during his medical career.

In 2005, Joël Le Scouarnec was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended, for possession of child pornography by the Vannes Criminal Court. He then continued his career, but also the rapes and assaults .

According to Pascale Mathieu, the president of the Order of Physiotherapists, the systematic nature of a ban on practice would prevent caregivers convicted of sexual offences from being able to continue their professional activity despite their conviction.

"We had the case of a professional who had been struck off at first instance" for sexual assaults, before the national disciplinary chamber, seized on appeal, reduced the sentence "to two years of banning", she indicated to AFP.

The physiotherapist resumed his activity after his sentence, but "unfortunately, there has just been a relapse, after several years. We have had new complaints, and we have just re-filed a complaint against him," she continued.

"For me, the first violation of the law should ban the profession forever, because we cannot put patients in danger," she believes.

In another case, the National Order of Physiotherapists is trying to oppose the registration of a former sports professional convicted of sexually assaulting a minor, she explained.

Banned from practicing his profession in France, "he went to a European country to study physiotherapy, and when he returned, he applied to register with the Order," regrets Pascale Mathieu. "If necessary, we will go all the way to the Council of State" to contest this registration, she said.