Can you practice acupuncture without being a doctor? The court of Senlis (Oise) has just answered no, by condemning a well-established Chinese medicine practitioner for the illegal practice of medicine.
It is an anonymous letter which denounces the 50-year-old to the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Hauts-de-France, indicating in particular that this practitioner of Chinese medicine, performs acupuncture acts but also bloodletting on his clients. . The man formally disputes this accusation of bloodletting but recognizes without difficulty the practice of acupuncture.
“I followed a training course where I learned acupuncture and I have a degree in Chinese medicine, explains the defendant before the judges. I’m not a doctor, I don’t do diagnoses but energy balances with my clients I clearly specify things to each person and the first question I ask is whether the person consulted their doctor before coming to me to see. If this is not the case, I do not receive the person. »
Many customers have also established certificates in favor of the Chinese medicine practitioner, who is very satisfied with his acupuncture procedures, “which constitute 90% of customer requests”. “Some doctors send me clients and every Wednesday, I work with an association at the Beauvais hospital with people undergoing chemotherapy, for plantar reflexology, but some ask me for acupuncture for nausea or pain. »
“No legislation prohibits acupuncture to non-physicians”
For the Order of Physicians, there can be no ambiguity: “it has been 20 years since the question was decided, acupuncture is a medical practice reserved for doctors only. Nothing prohibits training but not practicing. With, in support, judgments of the Court of Cassation, which condemned practitioners for illegal practice of medicine.
“But several courts of first instance have acquitted the defendants because in fact, no legislation prohibits acupuncture to non-doctors, retorts Me Marc Baclet, the defendant’s lawyer. Acupuncture does not appear in the list of practices reserved only for doctors as established by the Public Health Code. The training he received was given by doctors and during a control, the repression of fraud made no observation on his practice. No more than the insurance companies that have guaranteed its activity since its beginnings in 2016. He himself does not know whether he is illegal or not. »
The court ultimately found the defendant guilty. “But perhaps the law will evolve one day”, slips the president François Detton. It would be helpful if it became clearer in this specific case.