An eighteen-month suspended prison sentence has been requested against a nurse at a Marseille hospital who administered 1,000 times the prescribed dose of adrenaline to a patient, causing her death.
The Figaro Marseille
The prosecution requested an 18-month suspended prison sentence on Monday against a nurse from the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille (AP-HM), tried for involuntary manslaughter after administering 1,000 times the prescribed dose of adrenaline to a patient.
Admitted on September 5, 2017 to the rheumatology department of the Sainte-Marguerite day hospital, the 47-year-old victim was to undergo a fifth injection to treat rheumatoid arthritis. After an allergic episode, she suffered anaphylactic shock, quickly treated by an intern supervised by a senior physician.
Based on the protocol established for this type of situation, the intern prescribed an injection of 20 micrograms of adrenaline. But the nurse, who had arrived a few months earlier (after her department had closed in another AP-HM facility), administered 20 milligrams, or 1,000 times more, in this case the four 5-milligram vials on the emergency trolley.
Milligrams
The patient was transferred to intensive care, the dosage error was only revealed the next day. The woman died on September 9. Now retired, the nurse maintained before the Marseille criminal court that she had heard the intern talk about milligrams, but for the head of department, this dosage “cannot exist”the recommended dose in case of cardiac arrest being one milligram.
Asked to know “what dosage (would have appeared fatal to him)”the defendant replied that she did not know, having never used adrenaline before in her career. “I was told “hurry up, hurry up!”». “If you are prescribed a kilo of Doliprane instead of a gram, won’t that strike a chord with you, even as a layperson?”asked the victim’s companion.
Himself a nurse trainer in cancerology, he showed the court a syringe, showing the quantity “astronomical” administered. “This is not worthy of a nurse”he lamented. “She killed my wife, it’s normal that she’s here”.
Judgment on September 9
“There is no evidence to suggest that doctors are protecting themselves and blaming nurses.”said prosecutor Michel Sastre, applicant “a significant sentence” 18 months suspended prison sentence. According to the magistrate, “If the nurse has any doubts about the prescription, he checks it with the person who prescribed it.”.
Requesting an acquittal, the nurse’s lawyer, Philippe Bonfils, argued that his client “does not seek to dodge anything, unlike the AP-HM which wants to absolve itself of its responsibility”The judgment will be delivered on September 9.
