On Wednesday morning, the Chamber’s Health Commission once again looked into the affair surrounding the suspended HRS doctor Philippe Wilmes. Originally, Health Minister Martine Deprez (CSV) was supposed to inform the Chamber about the extension of his suspension by 21 months. Since this information – including a counter-statement from the doctor concerned – had already found its way to the public on Tuesday, the Chamber looked more closely into the suspension and its possible consequences on Wednesday.
“In ten out of ten cases, the three experts unanimously determined that unnecessary treatments were carried out. Based on this expert report, I extended the suspension by 21 months,” explained Deprez after the commission meeting in the Chamber. She does not want to discuss individual elements or the methodology any further in public. “To my knowledge, complete documentation was available for every case examined. The experts are responsible for their methodology and there was no one-sided analysis.” Deprez rejected criticism that the procedure was not “adversarial”. Wilmes and the ministry have appointed an expert. These two, in turn, appointed a third expert: a radiologist. The three then examined the cases at hand together.
Unanimity of the three experts
The three experts judged that operations were not medically necessary. “If the expert report is to be questioned, courts can rule on it,” said Deprez. Other external expert opinions were not an integral part of the ongoing administrative procedure on the basis of which the suspension of all surgical activities was recorded. As Minister of Health, she must rely on this report. Based on the expert report, the public prosecutor’s office was also informed on Tuesday, explained Deprez.
Suspension extended
The opposition politicians Mars Di Bartolomeo (LSAP) and Djuna Bernard (“déi gréng”) were of similar opinion. The opposition MPs complained that they had not yet received the relevant expert report. However, no one expressed any substantive doubts about the experts’ conclusions. “I want to emphasize that this does not represent a general suspicion against the medical profession in Luxembourg, but is an isolated case,” said Di Bartolomeo after the meeting. He also speaks as a long-time health minister when he says that the decision within the framework of the corresponding procedure is in the patient’s interest.
“The experts have done their job,” Bernard agreed. Now the disciplinary procedure, as provided for in the law, can be prepared by the “Collége médical”. “The doctor concerned has the right to doubt the expertise. However, we have three experts who unanimously agree and we have to accept that.” In the next 21 months, both the “Collége médical” and the public prosecutor’s office can carry out their work, as should be the case in a constitutional state.
Coming soon to the cinema
The “Collège médical” and its legal advice Me Lydie Lorang did not want to answer any questions from the journalists present after the meeting.
Wilmes’ lawyer François Prum told the daily newspaper announced that they wanted to appeal the Health Minister’s decision to the administrative court. It is less the decision itself, whose proportionality he doubts, than the basis of the decision that he questions. The expert report is not tenable from a medical perspective, said Prum. He understands to a certain extent that the minister could not have acted differently without medical knowledge. The accused doctor wants to make his own statement at a press conference on Friday.
Not the only media push from the doctor’s environment. Wilmes’ partner Alexandra Hoesdorff introduced herself to some journalists in the Chamber on Wednesday morning and explained that she wanted to produce a “documentary” about the affair. She was present in the Chamber on Wednesday morning, filming the live broadcast and the crowd of journalists present as well as the interviews with the politicians after the commission meeting. Hoesdorff is co-owner of the production company Deal SA together with the actress Désirée Nosbusch.
