"The administration wants to install the Tarnier psychiatric service in an old, disused geriatric hospital full of asbestos": around a hundred caregivers, including psychiatrist Mathieu Bellahsen and child psychiatrist Marcel Rufo, deplore in this column the "disdain" of politicians towards patients suffering from psychological distress.
This article is an op-ed, written by an author outside the newspaper and whose point of view does not reflect the editorial staff's views.
Mental health has been declared a major national cause for 2025. The public authorities have thus demonstrated their support for people with mental health disorders and disabilities, as well as those who provide them with the care they need in the health, medico-social, and social sectors. In real life, as is customary to say, the reality has unfortunately been deteriorating for decades. The stigma surrounding mental suffering remains strong. Unfortunately, when the time comes to make decisions, actions no longer match words, and we see that psychiatry remains the least of the concerns in terms of public policy. Patient care is proving increasingly difficult. The example of psychiatry at Cochin Hospital provides a concrete illustration of this disdain and neglect.
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Cochin Hospital is one of the largest hospitals in the Paris Public Hospitals (AP-HP). As such, it must have a strong and well-organized psychiatric department for all its patients and services. Part of its psychiatric activities are housed at Tarnier Hospital, near Cochin. It must give way to the Tarnier Institute for Women's Health project, led by Paris City Hall and Paris-Cité University. This provided an opportunity to improve Cochin's psychiatric system by grouping all its components into a single, available location: the former Port-Royal daycare center, in the heart of this hospital center. This proposal is in line with Opinion 147 of the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) entitled "Ethical issues relating to the crisis in psychiatry: an alert from the CCNE", which had received very broad support: that of patients and of Unafam (National Union of Families and Friends of People with Mental Illness and/or Disabilities), that of the Tarnier care team, that of the psychiatry and addiction colleges of the AP-HP, that of numerous department heads of Cochin, that of the Cochin care staff unions, that of the descendants of Eugène and Françoise Minkowski, whose name this new complex would have borne in homage to these two great psychiatrists who lived near Cochin, and finally that of the Paris Council, which unanimously voted for a text to this effect last February, ending as follows: "The Paris Council expresses the wish that the City of Paris continue discussions with the AP-HP concerning the relocation of the psychiatry and addiction service [from Tarnier] ; support the staff's proposal to regroup this service in the former nursery of the Cochin hospital.
A disused pavilion
Patients treated at Tarnier receive their care in a pavilion that has been abandoned and neglected for years. One might have hoped that they would finally benefit from decent premises, but this is not the case, as the administration is proposing that they once again wander around a former geriatric hospital, likely to be transferred elsewhere in a few years. For the time being, patients do not even know where they will be treated in a few weeks. How many of them, fragile and mistreated, will quickly find themselves without access to care? Who will bear the responsibility for these lost opportunities?
Indeed, deaf to all these positions, insensitive to medical arguments and the plight of patients, the administration wants to impose during the summer an installation of the psychiatric unit of Tarnier in an old, disused and dilapidated geriatric hospital also called the Collégiale, located far from Cochin. This terribly complicates the organization of care and its accessibility. A key point concerns the asbestos very present in this building, which poses a major threat to the safety of staff and patients. The Health, Safety and Working Conditions Commission (CSSCT) of Cochin, meeting on Wednesday, April 9, unanimously voted against the transfer of the unit from Tarnier to the Collégiale given the risks associated with asbestos. The administration considers that this is a temporary installation pending an installation in the new Hôtel-Dieu, whose opening, constantly delayed, is scheduled for 2028.
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Life at the highly regarded Tarnier unit is already severely disrupted and disrupted by the prospect of being transferred to an isolated, asbestos-ridden building. Some members of the medical team are leaving or are about to leave. This has already affected healthcare provision and activity, with the number of consultations down by more than a quarter compared to the number recorded in the first quarter of 2024 and the number recorded in the first quarter of 2025. In this context, Professor Bernard Granger, medical director of the psychiatry and addiction unit at Cochin, was dismissed from his duties last January due to his opposition to such decisions.
There is a long way between words and actions
In the current climate, where a form of "institutional abuse" is being denounced in public hospitals in general, and in AP-HP in particular, these discriminations against psychiatry are emerging, neglecting the opinions of caregivers and patients. It has consequences that go beyond simple questions of location. Both become pawns, movable at the whim of hospital managers. At the same time, the attractiveness of the profession of caregiver, medicine, and psychiatry is enshrined in the texts of the technocratic administration. There is a long way between words and actions!
The signatories of this text ask the Director General of AP-HP to reconsider his decision regarding the psychiatry and addiction unit at Tarnier, and to organize its reception at Cochin Hospital without delay. That's where the patients are, and that's where the caregivers want to welcome them. Making mental health "a major national cause" requires respecting patients and caregivers, as well as strengthening healthcare democracy.
Signatories of the platform
Patricia Adam-Laubret , psychiatrist, member of the boards of directors of the French Association of Psychiatry, the Union of French Psychiatrists and the National Professional Council of Psychiatry (CNPP); Sophie Bauer , president of the Union of Liberal Doctors; Franck Bayle , professor of psychiatry, Paris-Cité University, Sainte-Anne Hospital, member of the office of the University Union of Psychiatry; Manon Beaudoin , psychologist, Cochin-Tarnier Hospital; Mathieu Bellahsen , psychiatrist, whistleblower Maurice Bensoussan , psychiatrist, president of the Union of French Psychiatrists, former president of the National College for the Quality of Psychiatric Care (CNQSP) and of the CNPP; Fabrice Berna , professor of psychiatry, University of Strasbourg; Catherine Boileau , professor emeritus of genetics, Paris-Cité University, former member of the AP-HP board of directors; Jean-Jacques Bonamour du Tartre , psychiatrist, former president of the French Federation of Psychiatry (FFP) and of the CNPP; Isabelle Bourgault Villada , professor of immunology, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, member of the board of the Union of Doctors of the Paris Hospitals; Didier Bouscary , professor of hematology, Paris-Cité University, Cochin Hospital; Emmanuel Bui Quoc , ophthalmologist, Robert-Debré Hospital, general secretary of the Union of Surgeons of the Paris Hospitals; Sylvie Caira , collective of Tarnier patients and their relatives; Charles Chapron , professor of surgery, Paris-Cité University, Cochin Hospital; Patrice Charbit , psychiatrist, honorary president of the National Union of Private Psychiatrists, CNPP; Marie-José Cortés , president of the Union of Hospital Psychiatrists, member of the CNPP; Luc Cynober , honorary professor of nutrition, Paris-Cité University, former president of the Intercollegiate Biology Association of the AP-HP; Jean-Marie Danion , professor emeritus of psychiatry, University of Strasbourg, former president of the medical establishment commission (CME) of the Strasbourg University Hospitals; Quentin Debray , former professor of psychiatry, Paris-Cité University, and former head of the psychiatry department at the Corentin-Celton and Tarnier hospitals; Sabine Debuly , psychiatrist, member of the CNQSP, member and former president of the CNPP; Delphine Denis , collective of patients of Tarnier and their relatives; Franck Devulder , President of the Confederation of French Medical Unions; Dominique Dupagne , General Practitioner, Paris; Guita Elahi , Psychologist, Paris; Lorraine Engler Sauterey , Nurse, Cochin-Tarnier Hospital; Eric Fakra , Professor of Psychiatry, University of Saint-Etienne; Nicolas Georgieff , Professor of Child Psychiatry, University of Lyon; Delphine Glachant , Psychiatrist, Vice-President of the Union Syndicale de la Psychiatrie, CNPP; Christine Grapin-Dagorno , Former Professor of Pediatric Surgery, University of Paris-Cité; Christophe Hennequin , Professor of Parasitology, Sorbonne University; Dominique Israel-Biet , Professor Emeritus of Pneumology, University of Paris-Cité, Former Member of the CME of AP-HP; Philippe Jaury , Professor Emeritus of General Medicine, Honorary Member of the Academy of Medicine; Michel Jurus , psychiatrist, president of the FFP, CNPP; Christophe Lamisse , psychiatrist, head of the adult psychiatry department, Argenteuil hospital, co-president of the CNQSP, member of the CNPP; Thierry Labarthe , doctor, president of the Regional Union of Health Professions of Independent Doctors of Brittany; Christophe Libert , child psychiatrist, president of the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists; Véronique Marguillier , medical secretary, Cochin-Tarnier hospital; Xavier Mariette , professor of medicine, Paris-Saclay University, president of the local CME AP-HP Paris-Saclay; Vincent Martin , deputy general secretary FO AP-HP, secretary of the FO Cochin section; Catherine Masson , neurologist, member of the office of the Union of Doctors of Paris Hospitals; Denis Maurer , psychiatrist, Cochin-Tarnier hospital; Marc Minkowski , conductor; Marianne Minkowski , research fellow at the CNRS, Paris; Bernard Odier , psychiatrist, former president of the FFP and the CNPP; Yann Parc , professor of surgery, Sorbonne University, president of the Union of Surgeons of Paris Hospitals; Charles-Siegfried Peretti , professor of psychiatry, Sorbonne University; Sylvie Peron , psychiatrist, former vice-president of the Conference of Presidents of CME of general hospitals, member of the CNQSP and the CNPP; Luna, Laetitia and Jacques Perraut , collective of patients of Tarnier and their relatives; Stanislas Pol , professor of hepatology, Paris-Cité University, Cochin Hospital; Charles-Olivier Pons , child psychiatrist, president of the Union Syndicale de la Psychiatrie; Diane Purper-Ouakil , professor of child psychiatry, University of Montpellier; Gérard Reach , Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Paris; Emmanuelle Rémond , President of Unafam (National Union of Families and Friends of Mentally Ill and/or Disabled People); Marcel Rufo , former Professor of Child Psychiatry, University of Aix-Marseille; Mohamed Saoud , Professor of Psychiatry, University of Lyon; Laurent Schmitt , Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, University of Toulouse, former President of the CME of the Toulouse University Hospitals; Raymund Schwann , Professor of Psychiatry, University of Nancy; Isabelle Secret-Bobolakis , psychiatrist, Deputy Secretary General of the FFP, member of the CNPP; David Soffer , psychiatrist, CNQSP, Vice-President of the CNPP; Brigitte Soudrie , Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Marin Hospital in Hendaye, former member of the CME of the AP-HP; Pascale Tincelin , social worker, Cochin-Tarnier Hospital; Sylvie Tordjman , professor of child psychiatry, Paris-Cité University; Thierry Toussaint , psychiatrist, CNPP member; Guillaume Vaiva , professor of psychiatry, University of Lille; Aglawen Vega , general secretary of the CGT Cochin; Hélène Verdoux , professor of psychiatry, University of Bordeaux; Elie Winter , psychiatrist, president of the French Association of Private Practice Psychiatrists - National Union of Private Psychiatrists, CNPP member; Jean-Philippe Wolf , professor emeritus of biology, Paris-Cité University, Cochin Hospital.
