“I saw him with a blank stare, writhing in pain as we passed him“.
On the night of September 30 to October 1, 2023, Damien witnessed the slow agony of a young man of his age, Lucas, in the corridors of the emergency department of Hyères hospital. After several hours spent on a stretcher, the latter died from a meningococcal infection.
More than a year after the disappearance of Lucas, the tragedy remains in the memories and justice is now seized of the legal aspect.
Two reports from the ARS and the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs
Two reports have come to support the facts of that night when this young patient lost his life. An investigation was carried out internally by the Regional Health Agency and a second report was drawn up by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs at the request of the Minister of Health.
Attached to the procedure, these precise examinations carried out on the organization set up on the day Lucas was taken into care, are now part of the prism of the investigation.
As confirmed to us on November 5, 2024, the public prosecutor of Toulon Samuel Finielz, the public prosecutor's office has opened a judicial investigation for “involuntary manslaughter” having caused the death of others through clumsiness, imprudence, inattention, negligence or breach of an obligation of caution or safety imposed by law or regulation.
This opening of information led to the appointment of an investigating judge responsible for carrying out the necessary investigations to initiate, if necessary, prosecutions and issue possible indictments.
Contacted, Me Thomas Callen, the lawyer for Lucas' mother, Corinne Godefroy and her relatives, is satisfied that “an investigating judge has been appointed as part of a judicial investigation into involuntary homicide“.
He specifies that he filed a complaint on December 12, 2023 for a “series of negligence“having prevented the diagnosis of Lucas's meningococcal infection,”ultimately depriving him of any chance of survival“. He also mentioned the possibility of initiating a judicial investigation for “manslaughter”.
A witness wrote to the Ministry of Health
In a moving testimony given to Var-Matin on December 19, 2023, Damien Arnoux described the suffering endured by his neighbor on the stretcher. “He groaned and I saw him get up from his stretcher, lean against the wall and collapse. His eyes were staring into space. Two nurses weren't paying attention“He believes that his case was not taken seriously.
The funboard champion left the Hyères hospital establishment upset and spontaneously wrote to the Minister of Health (who was then Aurélien Rousseau) who, through his chief of staff, replied that he was contacting the Regional Health Agency to clarify the situation.
“I was asked why I sent letters about what I saw and what is the goal of my approach. The goal? It's because I don't want my loved ones or others to go through what Lucas went through. You are supposed to feel safe in a hospital. We are talking about a lack of resources, that is not the problem. I will never go there again“.
He witnessed the victim's terrible suffering.
The witness to this tragic night detailed the events he witnessed helplessly. “I ran out of battery on my phone“He hears that his tension is.”to 5.3. A female doctor came back to Lucas and asked him: Sir, are you with us? Lucas managed to tell him that he was extremely bad. He is very out of breath.”
Damien then hears that if Lucas can speak it's not a real 5.3. “He was on the edge of consciousness. The doctor left…”. But Lucas' heart will stop beating, despite the intervention of a new team.
His mother and father, forced to wait all these hours, between the waiting room and the parking lot, found themselves on two chairs in front of the inert body of their 25-year-old son, in a shock room. Lucas, who complained of intense stomach aches upon his arrival, never left the Hyères hospital alive.
A mysterious envelope left in Lucas' mailbox
Was Lucas taken care of as he should have been or was he subject to negligence, failings, carelessness, inattention?
Damien Arnoux is not the only one to have been shocked by the death of Lucas. A few days after the young man's disappearance, a strange letter was left in his mailbox. It was an envelope marked “Hyères Hospital” and with an emergency department stamp.
Inside, the mysterious emissary submitted part of the medical file, original blood tests, a report on Lucas' treatment, the result of the electrocardiogram, which mentioned an abnormal ECG at 5:25 p.m., the original CD-Rom of the scanner.
“Have we opened Pandora's box?“, asks Mr. Thomas Callen.
