Bernard Elhaik and his family finally obtained a hearing against the AP-HP and a neurologist after 16 years of fighting. A misinterpreted MRI and “lies” that they consider responsible for the death of Carole Darmon, Bernard’s daughter.
A trial as a “springboard” towards the truth: after 16 years of fight, Bernard Elhaik and his family obtained a trial against the AP-HP and a neurologist for a misinterpreted MRI and “lies” which, according to them, resulted in the death of his daughter, Carole Darmon.
This Friday, March 14, 2008, this 36-year-old woman “in perfect health”mother of a fourth child born a week earlier, complains of an excruciating migraine.
At the Bichat hospital in Paris, initial examinations rule out a serious pathology. A neurologist, Tarik S., signs his discharge slip on Saturday after an MRI which he considers normal.
On Monday morning, the doctor called her back for an additional examination. Carole Darmon returned to the hospital and suffered a “massive” stroke in the afternoon. In a vegetative state, she died on November 6, 2016.
In his Parisian apartment, Bernard Elhaik tells AFP about the young woman that Carole was, “extremely dynamic” and “tvery happy”. “Of course”concedes this father with suppressed emotions, “When she fell into a coma, well… everything stopped.”
“Interpretation error”
After accepting the inevitability of a rare disease, Bernard Elhaik discovered his daughter's medical file a few months later and in particular the MRI on which, in the opinion of experts, appears “an error of interpretation” manifest: signs “discreet but indisputable” hemorrhage in the brain.
The investigation focuses on disorganization by Bichat which allegedly prevented a radiologist from being able to direct and then analyze the disputed examination.
Who then managed the MRI? A radio technician said she made it “alone”on the instructions of neurologist Tarik S. who then studied it. For Bernard Elhaik, impossible. For a time, this dental surgeon read books on cerebral neurology and visited libraries.
The one who has multiplied the procedures, in addition to the criminal one, and who is angry against the experts who, according to him, have too easily cleared the hospital and its doctors, is convinced of having identified a radiologist who did the MRI but without sign the report on time, thus condemning his daughter, according to him. The investigation did not implicate her, to the great dismay of this father.
On November 29, a Parisian investigating judge ordered a trial for AP-HP and Tarik S. for involuntary injuries with total incapacity for work of more than three months. Two years of imprisonment are incurred.
Asked by AFP, the AP-HP did not wish to comment “an ongoing procedure on the merits”recalling that “this case (had) initially been dismissed”then, after a call, “requisitions for dismissal in October 2024”.
Tarik S.'s lawyer, Me Bernard Grelon, said to himself, “deeply surprised” by this trial, but “convinced of being able to demonstrate the absence of an infringement” of the doctor.
In her order of which AFP was aware, the magistrate underlines “the length and complexity of this legal procedure”. This has “added to the hardships suffered by this family” who “'need' a trial to be held”.
On the merits, the judge identifies two faults: on the one hand, “discharge on Saturday without reading the examination by a radiologist and without writing a written report”. On the other hand, “latency time”, “several hours”, “for the care of Carole Darmon on Monday”.
The magistrate also points to the possibility that the doctors did not question the patient about the medications she was taking, including one that could aggravate her risk of stroke.
“Really responsible”
The family's lawyer, Me Romain Boulet, speaks of a “staggering procedure” in which he had “use a private detective.” “I have never encountered such resistance from the institution to bring the truth to light.”
And to hope that this trial will make it possible “to answer this simple question which haunts Carole Darmon's children: 'Why did mom die?'”
For Bernard Elhaik, the correctional hearing is already a “very big victory” : his grandchildren “ask questions” and, he adds, “I wouldn't want (…) Eden to feel guilty”. “For them, it is extremely important that this trial takes place and that the truths come out.”
More “It’s not exactly what I expected”tempers the septuagenarian. “This trial will only be a springboard to go beyond and find those really responsible.”
