dr Marc Lacroix “crossed the line of acceptability” by urging the population on the radio at the beginning of the pandemic to “stop listening to the WHO”, perhaps in violation of his profession’s code of ethics – read a recent decision of the Disciplinary Board of the College of Physicians of Quebec.
Posted at 5:29pm
Ariane Lacoursiere The press
dr Lacroix was found guilty of two counts against him by two of the three members of the Disciplinary Committee. He was acquitted of five others. The Disciplinary Council had been asked to decide on statements made by the family doctor in radio interviews in spring 2020 and on his Facebook page.
dr Lacroix is the founder and president of Lacroix Private Medicine, a network of eight private medical clinics across the province. The sanctioning of Dr. Lacroix has yet to be decided.
PHOTO FROM LINKEDIN PROFILE BY MARC LACROIX
dr Marc Lacroix
In spring 2020, at the very beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Lacroix “given several radio interviews in which he commented on the health measures put in place by the Quebec government”, we can read in the disciplinary Council, held on June 23.
On May 8, 2020, Dr. Lacroix on CHOI 98.1 FM with host Jeff Fillion, also a spokesman for the Lacroix Clinics, specifically: “I think the WHO [Organisation mondiale de la santé], was not credible from the beginning in this crisis, hid information from the whole world, knowing that something serious is happening in China. So let’s stop listening to the WHO. »
In the decision, two of the three members of the Disciplinary Council point out that “a doctor who speaks in public does not have the same freedom as an ordinary citizen, given his status and the range of his opinions on the population”.
For her, the fact that Dr. Lacroix “unreservedly attacked the WHO, accusing it of concealing information”, “unworthy of a doctor”. “Dr. Lacroix has gone too far. His comments lacked restraint and nuance,” the decision said.
words on facebook
Between July 19th and 29th, 2020, Dr. Lacroix also posted more than forty messages on Facebook, including photos of Dr. Horacio Arruda accompanied by the word “fool”. dr Lacroix also wrote “pure madness” over a photo of Geneviève Guilbault, accompanied by the mention “wearing a mask obligatory until a vaccine is discovered”.
dr Lacroix also had a photograph of Dr. Arruda and François Legault, under which a question with a choice of answers was asked: “Are these gentlemen 1- Alzheimer’s? 2- Cretins or incompetent? 3- Malicious? 4- Committed to a hidden agenda? 5- Subject to higher orders? »
Two of the three members of the Disciplinary Council consider that “Dr Lacroix does not stop being a doctor when he expresses his opinions on social networks” and that several publications on Dr. Lacroix “depicting acts deviating from honor and dignity”. of the profession. The third member of the Disciplinary Committee expressed his objection and would have Dr. Lacroix acquitted of all charges.
Thirty Complaints
As of the summer of 2020, the College of Physicians had received about thirty complaints from the public about Dr. Lacroix received.
dr Lacroix, who was received by the office of the General Counsel of his professional code, had pledged to stop granting interviews on COVID-19 and to close his Facebook accounts.
But one citizen, stenographer Olivier Bolduc, who also plays politics for Québec solidaire, filed a private complaint in August 2020 against Dr. Lacroix a. The complaint originally contained 12 charges. However, some charges were withdrawn by Mr Bolduc or dismissed by the court. Only seven chiefs remained.
In a written statement, Dr. Lacroix points out that “three members of the Disciplinary Committee [l]acquitted unanimously on five of the seven counts”. In fact, four counts accused Dr. Lacroix for making comments that went against the data of medical science.
If several of his remarks were “undesirable by a doctor in the context of a global pandemic,” especially considering that Dr. Lacroix has no expertise in public health, the Disciplinary Board believes they were “on the edge of what is acceptable”.
The Disciplinary Board also unanimously dismissed the charge against Dr. Lacroix was accused of inviting citizens on Facebook to take part in a demonstration against wearing masks. Again, the Council considers that Dr. Lacroix acted “on the edge of what is ethically justifiable”.
“While we welcome the acquittal of five of the seven remaining counts in the private indictment, the disciplinary proceeding will not be final until the sanction on the remaining two counts has been heard,” writes Dr. Lacroix, who specifies that his lawyers “will proceed to analyze the decision”.