Vendée: a patient interned against her will in the psychiatric hospital calls on the justice system for help

The summary judge of administrative court of Nantes rejected the new request of a patient of the psychiatric hospital of La Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée) which had contacted her as part of an emergency procedure, on April 4, 2024, to put an end to her compulsory hospitalization.

To do this, the applicant sent the judge a copy of a letter from a psychiatrist from thePublic mental health establishment (EPSM) Georges-Mazurellewho “offered an appointment for her on April 29, 2024 at 1:45 p.m.” so that she could be “examined with a view to a protective measure” and this “at the request” of the public prosecutor of La Roche-sur-Yon Sarah Huet. The patient therefore wanted the judge to “annul all decisions [la concernant] including the latter from prosecutor Huet as soon as possible.”

The prefect of Vendée had in fact interned the person concerned on December 14, 2023 and had decided on her “complete hospitalization (…) as long as another form of care is not substituted for her” by another decision “taken on medical recommendation.”

Seized by the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Pays de la Loire, the judge of freedoms and detention (JLD) of the judicial court of La Roche-sur-Yon had judged this measure “justified” and had maintained it on December 22, 2023. The applicant had appealed, but the Poitiers Court of Appeal had noted on January 19, 2024 that her request was now “irrelevant” since the patient was no longer subject to “complete hospitalization” in psychiatry, but only simple “ambulatory care” since January 4, 2024.

“Forcing to treat oneself without illness”

The applicant did not stop there, however: on February 19, 2024, she had in fact asked the same judge of the same administrative court in Nantes to “lift the partial hospitalization measure which remains to run”.

She still wanted the prefect of Vendée “acknowledges by mail the lightness of its services and those of the Regional Health Agency” of Pays de la Loire: they “do not know the law in this type of automatic hospitalization procedure”, she maintained.

She therefore wanted the State representative in Vendée to undertake either “the training (…) of all her subordinates” in this type of procedure or to pay her “€4,999” as a “provision” to be made. be worth damages which she intends to claim from him later.

The patient also wanted the judge to order “the Clinique du Parc and the Mazurelle hospital” to “withdraw from circulation the medical certificates” which concern her and for the two health establishments to “sanction disciplinary the doctors who produced them with a view to exploiting the services of the prefect and the JLD.”

The judicial court of La Roche-sur-Yon had to “cancel the order which made it possible to extend the internment without real and serious causes”, the JLD “write another one as soon as possible” and the president of the Poitiers Court of Appeal “destroy” its judgment of January 19, 2024 “which undermines the authority of justice”.

His “reputation” is “threatened”

“Arbitrarily detained” and “deprived of his freedom to come and go for four weeks”, she finds herself “in imminent danger of confinement” and is “forced to take care of herself without illness”. The “emergency condition” in this summary procedure was all the more “satisfied” because she runs the “risk of poisoning” and her “reputation is threatened”.

But “the judicial authority is the only competent authority to rule on disputes against thepsychiatric care admission decisionstaken by the director of a health establishment, at the request of a third party or (…) by the representative of the State”, the judge of the administrative court of Nantes then replied to him in this first order in date of February 26, 2024. “This also applies to requests for compensation for harmful consequences resulting (…) from these decisions. »

In this new order dated April 8, 2024, the magistrate therefore notes that the applicant “does not justify a emergency situation implying that a measure aimed at safeguarding a fundamental freedom must be taken within 48 hours.” And an emergency judge cannot “cancel” decisions, but simply “suspend” them temporarily, she reminds the applicant at the same time.

“It does not seem pointless to recall (…) that “contempt (…) of a magistrate (…) is punishable by one year of imprisonment and a fine of €15,000”, slips the judge of the courts in passing. summary proceedings from the Nantes administrative court.

GF (PressPepper)

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