The Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille (AP-HM) was sentenced this Monday, September 30 to a suspended fine of 50,000 euros for involuntary homicide, a patient suffering from Alzheimer’s disease having been found dead in a disused wing of a hospital, two weeks after his disappearance from the hematology department.
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Disappeared on August 19, 2019, the body of a 72-year-old man was found 15 days later his disappearancein an abandoned corridor of the Conception hospital in Marseille, where he was being treated. The Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille (AP-HM) was sentenced this Monday to a suspended fine of 50,000 euros for involuntary homicide.
The court, explained its president Laure Humeau, exonerated the AP-HM of negligence in welcoming this patient and of a failure to implement the existing protocol for vulnerable people. The nursing home had in fact not alerted the hospital of episodes of running away or of his transfer, in May, to a closed unit. In the department where he came every week, the staff had not noticed any tendency to wander. On the other hand, the judges consider that “the failure to secure the disused wing and the ineffectiveness of the search are indeed the determining causes of the death of Jean Ligonnet since it was his confinement in this place which caused it”. The disused wing was in fact accessible from emergency staircases and the triggering of room alarms had given rise to a search that was far from exhaustive.
Jean Ligonnet, 73 years old, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, was residing in an nursing home, L’agence d’or”, in La Seyne-sur-Mer, in the Var. For 11 months, before his disappearance, he lived regularly went to the Conception hospital to undergo chemotherapy treatment. There had never been a problem until the day of his disappearance. On August 19, 2019, Jean Ligonnet had an appointment at 11 a.m. arrives by taxi at the day hospital, located on the 4th floor, to receive his usual treatment. “It’s a specific treatment that is made here, in the hospital” hospital management said Wednesday during a press conference. Usually, Jean Ligonnet is taken care of upon his arrival. He is given his treatment and leaves immediately. Besides, the taxi driver is waiting to take him home. Except that on that day, the treatment was not ready. Jean Ligonnet must wait in the waiting room until 2 p.m. According to the deceased’s son, the taxi driver told the nursing staff that he had to leave for an errand. Jean Ligonnet therefore remains alone. “We brought him a meal tray,” hospital management said. It was from this moment that Jean Ligonnet disappeared. On September 3, a strong and nauseating odor was felt by patients at the hospital. Research is underway to determine the source. They led to the discovery of the body of Jean Ligonnet, in an abandoned wing of the establishment.
Two nights in a row, security agents passed near Mr. Ligonnet, found dead in a room without an exterior handle. While the management of the AP-HM recognizes the daily disappearances of patients, according to the court, it would be “necessary to implement permanent and reliable instructions to ensure, in the rare cases where the disappearance is not resolved within 24 or 48 hours, that the entire establishment is indeed the subject of searches”. During the hearing on July 8, the general director of the AP-HM François Crémieux, representing the legal entity, recognized that “There is no more atrocious death, locked in this gloomy and dirty place.” He added that he “it is not possible to undo what happened, but it is possible, with words, to express sympathy [de l’institution] towards those close to him.”
