Administrative Court of Orléans
The lateness of a brain scan at the Blois hospital center and the transfer to the Tours CHRU, as well as the lack of information, were not accepted by the administrative court which rejected, on December 12, 2024, the requests of the beneficiaries rights of a stroke patient, after a hearing on November 21, 2024.
At issue: the treatment of a 71-year-old patient on December 2 and 3, 2009. Suffering from a sudden right hemiparesis and aphasia, his treating doctor decided to send him to the emergency room at the beginning of the afternoon of December 2 at the Blois hospital center to carry out a brain scan.
Except that the taxi is late and doesn't arrive at the hospital until after 6 p.m. However, treatment with thrombolysis to dissolve the blood clot must be carried out within three hours of the attack.
More than €60,000 in estimated damage
A brain scan cannot wait until the next day, but it is nevertheless carried out on December 3. Then the patient is transferred to the Tours CHRU to a specialized department. The applicants and two children of the person concerned invoke through their counsel, Mre Dominique Brossas, the lateness of the brain scan and the transfer to Tours to claim compensation for the damage estimated at €61,839 plus personal damage of affection and support of €3,000 for his wife and €1,500 for each of the two children.
The loss of chance of avoiding the after-effects of the stroke is estimated at 10%. The hospital's lawyer, Mr.e Victor Gaftoniuc, also representing the hospital's insurance company, supports the rejection of the request.
The public rapporteur notes that the management of the Blois hospital center “was not carried out according to the rules of the art” and as such may result in the liability of the hospital. But he adds “that there is no direct and certain causal link” between the faults committed by the Blesois establishment and the damage suffered by the person concerned.
He specifies that the late arrival at the hospital excluded any possibility of carrying out thrombolysis, the time between the crisis and treatment having to be less than 3 hours, here it was 4:30 hours and his transfer was quicker to the Tours CHRU would not have prevented or reduced the after-effects of the stroke. The request is therefore rejected.
