Nearly 30 years after the death of a patient, the Roubaix hospital ordered to compensate his family

The Council of State condemned the Roubaix hospital center (North) To pour €441,000 to the widow and five children of a patient who died in November 1995 of sepsis, after “errors” in his care.

This father had in fact been hospitalized, on the afternoon of November 8, 1995, in the emergency room of the Roubaix hospital for a “deep anal and peri-rectal abscess”. But while his condition required rapid treatment“upon arrival”, as well as “appropriate antibiotic treatment” and surgical intervention (evacuation by drainage), all these actions were only carried out the next dayreports the highest French administrative court, in a judgment of March 28, 2024 which has just been made public.

The patient died a month later, despite a transfer to the Lille CHR

The medical team had also chosen not to perform a “colostomy with diversion” as first intention: this is how they had “made a mistake” by “not adapting the antibiotic therapy more quickly” and by not performing a new surgical procedure before November 12, it is further detailed, while the patient’s state of health was continuously deteriorating.

However, the medical expert appointed to look into the management of this patient had considered that only the colostomy with diversion would have been “likely to hinder the development of gangrene”. This caused septicemia, from which this professional accountant died on December 20, 1995, despite his transfer to the Lille CHR. The Lille teams finally performed the colostomy on the day of his death.

A long legal journey

His wife, mother of their five children, the last of whom was 13 months old, was not working at the time of his death. She therefore received no income. She and her children took the case to administrative justice, to obtain nearly €900,000 in compensation for the damage they felt they had suffered with the death of the father of the family.

Initially, the Lille administrative court awarded them a total sum close to €500,000, but the hospital center appealed and the Douai administrative court reduced its sentence to €316,000. The family of the deceased patient then brought the case for the first time before the highest court of the French administrative order. In December 2019, the Council of State partially annulled the judgment and referred the case for examination by the Douai administrative court of appeal.

The latter subsequently revised its copy, bringing the judgment of CH Roubaix to €369,000, but the family of the deceased had again appealed to the Council of State: this time they demanded €483,000. In a judgment dated March 28, 2024, the Council of State notes that “the administrative court of appeal of Douai rendered its second judgment in a panel including a magistrate who had participated in the deliberation of the judgment of June 5, 2018 “. Fact which allowed the relatives of the deceased accountant to “request the annulment of the judgment they are attacking”.

Five children, all minors at the time of death

Basically, the evils “from which he suffered [la victime] carry a risk of death which can be set on average at 10%”; in his case, the risk was however “increased” by his “obesity”, his “uncontrolled diabetes” and the “delay of a few days with which he presented himself at the hospital for treatment of the abscess the cause of this disease.

“All the elements aggravating the risk having been taken into account by the expert’s report, it is appropriate to set at 80% the rate of loss of chance of escaping the damage which is attributable to the faults committed by the hospital center of Roubaix”, therefore considers the Council of State.

The Parisian judges also estimated that the “economic damage” suffered by his widow after his death was €313,000. His five children, all minors at the time of their father’s death, suffered “damage to their affections” and “exceptional disturbances in the conditions of existence” which will be compensated, for each of them, to the tune of 28 000 € – a total sum of 140,000 €. In total, the Roubaix CH will therefore have to pay €441,000 to the family, and €4,500 for their legal costs.

CB (PressPepper)

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