A Cerfa for Medicinal Side Effects

You live in France. You take medicine. You suffer from side effects and your doctor isn't listening. You can do something about it. Yes, you can! There is a form, but not an app, for that.

Oh happy France that loves its administration so much that there are 710 forms to declare just about anything:

• asking for a medal of honour for work (11796*01 Demande de médaille d'honneur du travail); 
• a declaration about your spouse (11355*08 Declaration concernant le conjoint) - "She can make a proper cup of coffee made in a proper copper coffee pot", "He sells sea shells on the sea shore"; 
• a request for spa treatment (14415*03 Demande de cure thermale);
• an individual statement of activity time (13704*03 Relevé individuel de temps d'activité) - "Got up, went to the loo, had breakfast, had a shower, fed the cat...".

There's no end to the fun you can have with a Cerfa.

Cerfa 15301 to declare side effects from medicine

As no one knows about this form, only 8000 people a year declare they've had side effects. There's another form for doctors to use (10011*04) but they don't seem to know about it either as only 13% of declarations come from them despite the fact that they are responsible for most prescriptions. Most come from hospitals, with 84%, as 128,000 people are hospitalised each year after taking their medicine! Funny how the pharmaceutical companies don't add a little remark in the notice about ways to declare side effects...

So, if you've had the flu vaccine and felt funny afterwards, if you've been taking pills and have come out in a nasty itchy rash, or something worse, don't suffer in silence thinking it'll pass. Get onto your computer, download the form, fill it in and send it off. You'll be doing us all a big favour!