Frédéric Boschetto, a 56-year-old micro-entrepreneur from Laroque-d'Olmes in the Ariège region of southwestern France, has spent five years trying to find out whether serious health problems he developed were caused by his second Covid-19 vaccine dose. A court-ordered medical expert assessment meant to settle the question is now at risk of being halted because he cannot afford the fee needed to complete it.
On August 26, 2026, Boschetto showed hands covered in red patches that flake at the slightest touch. He said he feels treated like an outcast because of his condition.
Chronic eczema and chest pain
For five years, Boschetto has lived with chronic eczema, facial paralysis and severe chest pains that have sent him to the emergency room several times. He compared the pain to having a 50-kilogram bag placed on his chest, saying that at times it has felt severe enough that he thought his last hour had come.
Over time, he became convinced his symptoms began just days after his second Covid-19 vaccine dose, administered on September 4, 2021. He insists he is neither a conspiracy theorist nor someone looking to sue for the sake of it, and only wants to understand what happened to him. He said he does not dispute that the vaccine saved lives, but that for him it turned into an ordeal. Before the second dose, he said, his only health issue had been mildly high blood pressure.
Rejected by France's medical accident compensation office
Boschetto consulted a dermatologist several times, who diagnosed chronic eczema of the hands. He then filed a claim with the Office National d'Indemnisation des Accidents Médicaux (ONIAM), the French body that compensates victims of medical accidents, but the claim was rejected. According to a Toulouse administrative court order dated November 21, 2025, ONIAM found that the timeline of his symptoms was not compatible with them being caused by the vaccination.
Boschetto did not stop there. He took his case to the administrative court, not to argue the link himself but to obtain a medical expert assessment that could determine whether one exists. In its order, the court said that, given the state of the investigation and regardless of Boschetto's medical history, the possibility of a link between the harm he says he suffered and the vaccine doses he received could not be ruled out. It ordered a joint expert assessment involving Boschetto, the Ariège primary health insurance fund and ONIAM.
A 4,100-euro bill he cannot pay
Boschetto was examined as part of the assessment on June 4, 2026. But before it could go further, the court asked him for a provisional payment, known in French administrative law as a "provision," of 4,100 euros to cover the cost. Given his limited income, he said the sum is out of reach: he lives on 500 euros a month, meaning the payment would amount to eight months of his income.
The payment deadline is now due. If Boschetto does not pay by mid-September, the tribunal could issue a formal notice that would halt the expert assessment altogether. He said that would mean he and the truth are being denied justice, and that he feels he is up against the wall.
Dispute over legal aid
Boschetto's lawyer, Denis Benayoun, who specializes in representing victims of road accidents and bodily injury, said his firm has told Boschetto he could ask the court to let him pay the sum in installments. On the question of whether Boschetto could have applied for state legal aid, the two sides disagree: the lawyer said it was Boschetto who failed to request it at the start of the proceedings, while Boschetto says the opposite is true. Regarding the option his lawyer raised, Boschetto said he would prefer the provision to be postponed or blocked entirely.
In the meantime, Boschetto has launched an online fundraiser to try to raise the money needed to pay for the expert assessment. He said he is simply asking that his lack of money not stop him from seeing the process through to the end. ONIAM and the local health insurance fund did not respond when contacted.
How French courts handle unpaid expertise fees
Asked about the case, the communications office of the Toulouse administrative court said the cost of a court-ordered expert assessment is generally paid by whoever requested it, though the system allows for adjustments when a litigant faces financial hardship. Unlike judicial courts, which can require the full estimated cost to be deposited as soon as an expert is appointed, administrative courts can instead set a provisional allocation to cover only the expert's initial costs, such as convening the parties and reviewing documents. This allocation cannot be appealed. It is usually charged to the person requesting the assessment, but for reasons of fairness a judge can instead charge the other party or split the cost, particularly when the requester has made their financial difficulties known.
If the provision goes unpaid, the court sends a formal notice with a set deadline. If that deadline passes, the expert submits their report as it stands, without drawing conclusions, meaning the assessment is halted before it is complete. People unable to afford an expert assessment can normally apply for state legal aid under a law dating from July 10, 1991; when aid is granted in full, experts generally do not require a provisional payment because they are guaranteed to be paid by the state. In Boschetto's case, though, he can no longer apply for that aid to cover the 4,100-euro provision, because the request would have had to be made before the judge ordered the assessment.
