Adélaïde-Hautval Hospital

Adélaïde-Hautval Hospital (French: Hôpital Adélaïde-Hautval) was a public hospital in Villiers-le-Bel, in the Val-d'Oise department of France. Operated by the Assistance publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), it opened in 1965 under the name Hôpital Charles-Richet and specialised in elder care. The hospital formed part of the Hôpitaux Universitaires Paris Nord Val de Seine group and offered 285 beds across acute care, rehabilitation, long-term care, and EHPAD services before its closure in 2019. Originally named after the Nobel Prize-winning physiologist Charles Richet, the hospital was renamed in 2015 following public controversy over Richet's support for eugenics and racist theories. After an internal review, AP-HP concluded that Richet's published views were incompatible with the values of the public healthcare system. The hospital was subsequently renamed in honour of Dr Adélaïde Hautval, a French physician recognised for her resistance during the Nazi occupation and her defence of Jewish patients at Auschwitz. The hospital ceased all clinical services in 2017, but the site continued operating as a transitional EHPAD until late 2021, when it was closed due to infrastructure deficiencies and the high cost of renovation. In 2023, a new 7,300 m² multiservice gerontological platform was inaugurated on the same grounds by the non-profit operator ARPAVIE. The facility includes a 110-bed EHPAD, day centres, caregiver support services, and home care programmes. In parallel, parts of the former hospital site were sold to Grand Paris Aménagement and are being redeveloped into an eco-district with 370 housing units, scheduled for completion in 2028.

The hospital was inaugurated in 1965 under the name Hôpital Charles-Richet. It was constructed as a pavilion-style facility, consisting of 15 buildings spread across 8.3 hectares of wooded land on Rue du Haut-du-Roy in Villiers-le-Bel. The buildings covered a total surface area of 37,570 square metres, were designed to feel more personal and less institutional for geriatric care. Its services included acute care, rehabilitation, long-term care, palliative medicine, and support for dependent elderly residents (known as Établissement d'hébergement pour personnes âgées dépendantes EHPAD).

In the early 2010s, public concern grew over the hospital's namesake, Charles Richet, a Nobel Prize-winning physiologist whose later works expressed support for eugenics and racist theories, notably in La Sélection humaine and L'Homme stupide. While his scientific contributions had once justified naming a hospital in his honour, a 2014 petition brought renewed attention to his published views. In response, the AP-HP, the public hospital trust that operates hospitals across the Paris region, initiated an internal review of Richet's writings to assess whether these concerns were based on outdated readings of his work. In a public statement, the organisation concluded that the tone and content of the texts were incompatible with the values of the public healthcare system. Although Richet's scientific work had long been valued, the AP-HP noted the "intolerable" nature of his eugenic ideas and acknowledged that his writings may have contributed to harmful ideologies in the interwar period. The agency also cited the symbolic importance of aligning public institutions with ethical standards, particularly in light of France's republican and humanist values. Following the review, AP-HP Director General Martin Hirsch and the mayor of Villiers-le-Bel, Jean-Louis Marsac, jointly agreed to remove Richet's name. In early 2015, the hospital was renamed in honour of Adélaïde Hautval (1906–1988), a French physician known for her moral resistance under Nazi occupation. Imprisoned at Auschwitz for defending Jewish patients, Haut

Hospital data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).