Doctor Pierre Dukan removed from the College of Physicians
Known internationally for his famous and controversial weight-loss method based on the adoption of a high-protein diet, Dr. Pierre Dukan has just been officially deregistered – for a second time! – of the Order of Physicians by the National Council of the Order of Physicians. This information is relayed by the Medical Press Agency (APM) (1) .
Facts
Renowned nutritionist, Dr. Pierre Dukan developed in the early 2000s an innovative diet method giving pride of place to protein intake and simultaneously banishing carbohydrate and lipid-based dishes. The method was so successful that its author decided to make a book of it, ” I don’t know how to lose weight», which will also meet the same fate to the point of being translated into nearly 14 languages. On the strength of this “success story”, Dr. Dukan will continue in his momentum and will publish nearly twenty other works of the same ilk over the last decade with the same success. At the same time, the nutritionist will also offer a myriad of derivative products stamped with his name in order to promote his high-protein diet method. Widely distributed in pharmacies and supermarkets, these also “surfed” on the phenomenal success of the “Dukan method” (2) .
Only if the “success story” is beautiful and indisputable, it is nonetheless extremely controversial. Indeed, both the scientific community and the health authorities, in particular the National Health Security Agency, are concerned and strongly denounce the risks that the “Dukan method” poses to its potential followers due to the excess of protein intake it imposes on the body (3). To add to this wind of controversy which swirls around him, raised by his famous method, Dr. Dukan will also make a proposal in March 2012 which will totally provoke the ire of the ordinal authorities: indeed, in an open letter which he publishes in the media and addresses the future President of the Republic, the nutritionist proposes to introduce a new option for the baccalaureate which would consist, in order to encourage young people not to fall into the trap of obesity, to award points bonus to baccalaureate candidates if they manage to stay in an ideal weight range during their last two years of high school (4) .
Following these remarks which it considers dangerous in view of their potential impact on young adolescents suffering from obesity or anorexia, the departmental ordinal authority of doctors decides to file a complaint against Dr Dukan in 2012 for violation of the article 13 of the Code of Medical Ethics. Indeed, according to this text, “a doctor must pay attention to the repercussions of his remarks on the public”. Shortly after, the National Council of the Order of Physicians (CNOM) followed suit by also filing a complaint against Dr Dukan for this time misappropriation of medical practice for commercial purposes (in allusion to the “success story” of his diet method), a fact punishable by article 19 of the Code of Medical Ethics.
Doubtless wanting to anticipate the outcome of these two parallel disciplinary proceedings initiated by the ordinal authorities against him, Pierre Dukan took the initiative and requested on his own initiative on April 19, 2012 his removal from the Order of Physicians without however specifying the real reason. Something he will get a month later. However, this voluntary radiation will not stop the procedures already initiated by the CNOM because, according to the admission of Dr Irène Kahn Bensaude, President of the Departmental Order of Doctors of Paris, on the site of the Nouvel Observateur in 2012, the facts that the authorities accused him until then were all prior to his request for deregistration.
A year and a half after his voluntary radiation, the disciplinary procedure will therefore have finally resulted in this second radiation – totally symbolic this time – of Dr Dukan from the Order of Physicians for, according to the APM, “ promotion of [his method of] diet for commercial purposes ” and lack of temperance in his remarks (relative to the case of the proposal to introduce an optional bonus system for the baccalaureate based on the “equilibrium weight”) (5) .
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.