Paris, June 18, 2019

Madam, sir,
I have been contacted by many victims of the drug Androcur who wanted to seize alone S (ie without lawyer and without a doctor advice) a conciliation and compensation commission (CCI).
I wish to draw the attention of all the victims to the dangerousness of presenting themselves to these expertise alone.

The procedure before the CCI, if it does not provide for a compulsory representation by a lawyer, has important difficulties even before expertise:

• It is necessary to constitute a file which allows the Commission to note that the severity threshold of at least 25% functional deficit is reached for an expertise to be ordered;
• This file will be transmitted to the persons implicated (laboratory and prescribing doctors), it must therefore not contain elements which could harm the victim ;
• It should be ensured that the experts who have been appointed have no conflicts of interest in the causes as well as the health authorities. On this major subject, it was reported to us that CCIs had appointed as an expert a doctor who participated for many years in the work of the Medicines Agency ( ANSM ), which poses a serious difficulty since the responsibility of this agency is in question for the lack of information of which you were the victim.

During the expertise meeting, the people implicated (laboratories, doctors, hospitals, etc.) all come accompanied by several lawyers and advice doctors. The victims find themselves alone in the face of a dozen people.
Laboratory experts and lawyers are not benevolent with regard to the victims . The proofs of prescription but also the link between the meningiomas and the Androcur medication will be disputed. The damages will be discussed.
The discussion on the accountability of attacks, the medico-legal evaluation of damage and pharmacology should not be done solely between experts and lawyers in the laboratory. It is very difficult for victims to find themselves alone against everyone and to provide technical, medical and legal arguments ...
A bad expert report, even if it does not definitively close the doors to compensation, seriously harm the procedure. This report will remain forever in the file .
It therefore seems essential to me that the victims who seized the CCIs alone are assisted by a doctor and a lawyer, whatever they are , to defend their interests in the face of those of doctors and a laboratory that have financial means and important technical knowledge of the drug Androcur.
Many lawyers can help you. It is important not to go alone in these complex procedures and very important issues .

My office is at your disposal to support you in these procedures, even when they are already underway.

Please accept, madam, sir, the expression of my best regards.

Charles Joseph-Oudin,
lawyer at the Cabinet
Dante Avocats