In September 2023, Lucas, 25, died of septicemia in the emergency room of Hyères hospital (Var), after hours of agony in a corridor. This Friday, the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas) issues a damning control report on the chain of circumstances which led to the death.
As a reminder, the young man was taken by the firefighters at 3:50 p.m. to the emergency room after severe abdominal pain that occurred the previous evening. Installed on a stretcher in the corridor, he then communicated with his parents by text message, until he felt unwell at 9:30 p.m.
But it was only after midnight that he received an antibiotic injection, too late to stop the sepsis, a generalized infection that would eventually take him away. “During certain phases of care, delays exceed professional recommendations or the limits provided by the organization of the service” deplores the administration.
The seriousness of his condition “was codified more than an hour after the decision to place the patient in the emergency corridor” confirms the Igas. More serious, “the first medical examination takes place almost four hours later” while the maximum time provided for by the procedure in Lucas’s situation was two hours. Aggravating circumstance: “the delivery of the blood test to the laboratory of the Toulon hospital center is done almost an hour late compared to the schedule planned by the establishment”.
The terrible consequence of these delays is that the “non-detection of a serious illness with an atypical form” is indeed the “immediate cause of death” of the young man. The administration’s report also confirms what the family has always deplored, namely that they were refused access to the emergency room and that the information communicated to them was “late and insufficient”.
Corinne, the young man’s mother, tells us that “by publicizing Lucas’ death, we hoped to recommend areas for improvement in the management of sepsis, with respect for the patient and support as well as in the right of visitation and communication to relatives”. “This is the positive side of this report which highlights all the failures in Lucas’s care until his death,” she adds. We see that this shows the problem of emergencies. We hope for everyone that this will contribute to better patient care.”
