The nightmare would have lasted several hours. A 25-year-old young woman died on October 15 following acute meningitis, her relatives believing that she was treated far too late, after calls for help were in vain. An investigation was opened by the Montpellier public prosecutor's office, the court confirms to Le Parisien, which indicates that a complaint was filed for “failure to assist a person in danger”. The Regional Health Agency, for its part, launched an inspection mission.
“My best friend, my confidante was abandoned by those who are supposed to protect us, despite my repeated calls to the 15th and 18th, no doctor, neither from Smur, nor from Sdis 34, no ambulance for several hours,” accused a friend of the young woman to Actu.fr.
“I see everything white, I’m going to die”
According to the account of the latter, who accompanied the patient during her last hours, the 25-year-old young woman told her on Tuesday October 15 that she was experiencing vomiting and high fevers. She claims to have called Center 15 and 18 several times, but despite the worrying signals presented by the patient, she was never taken care of by an ambulance. She “fainted, she has stools with blood-red liquid, she can no longer move her legs, she has a rigid hand with the impossibility of moving her fingers,” recalls her best friend.
She claims to have had to bring the twenty-year-old to the hospital herself, with the help of a transported friend, while the young woman repeated “I see everything white, my body is on fire, I am going to die”. She lost consciousness on the way to the emergency room at the Saint-Roch polyclinic, before finally being transferred to the Montpellier University Hospital, where the medical team was unable to resuscitate her.
The young woman died “two hours after her admission”, indicated this Monday morning the deputy prosecutor of Montpellier, Marco Scuccimarra, to Le Parisien. The autopsy confirmed that she died of meningitis, an “invasive meningococcal infection,” a “serious communicable disease.”
Emergency services not triggered, “despite two calls”
He adds that an investigation has been opened to investigate the causes of the patient's death. His family filed a complaint for “failure to assist a person in danger”, calling into question the “conditions of treatment by the Samu which did not trigger help despite two calls”. For the moment, the qualification of involuntary homicide is not retained at this stage, since it “presupposes that a causal link be demonstrated between possible faults in care and the death”.
“The investigation continues under the direction of the Montpellier public prosecutor’s office,” also indicates the deputy prosecutor. Furthermore, the ARS of Occitanie launched an inspection mission into the circumstances of the death.
For its part, the Montpellier University Hospital deplores “with emotion the sudden death of a young 25-year-old patient”, in a press release published Friday and sent to Le Parisien this Monday. The young woman “had contacted the Hérault Samu on October 15, before being referred to an emergency service, then received at the Montpellier University Hospital where she died,” according to the hospital center. “The details of the tragedy are still unclear, but an investigation has been launched by the Montpellier public prosecutor's office, while the CHU acknowledges having launched its own internal investigation,” he indicates.
The hospital ready for “the greatest transparency” with the authorities
The management of the establishment expresses its “deep sadness” and the hospital staff “also show their full support to her friends, very affected by the sudden death of this patient whom they accompanied”. The CHU also indicates that it is committed to “providing in complete transparency the details necessary to understand the exact circumstances of the death of this young patient” to the relatives of the twenty-year-old.
The center also affirms that “several measures have already been taken within the establishment” without waiting for the end of the internal investigation, without detailing which ones. All the elements available to him were transmitted “to the justice services as part of an investigation carried out by the Montpellier public prosecutor’s office”. “The Montpellier University Hospital will collaborate with the greatest transparency with all the authorities,” he assures.
Guest on BFMTV, Professor Louis Soulat, vice-president of Samu Emergencies de France, estimated that “the regulator seems to have fallen back towards a consultation to which the patient had to travel”. “Medical regulation is a very difficult act, which is done over the telephone (…) In the present case, these are relatively frequent symptoms during this time of the year,” the representative sought to emphasize.
