A young girl who had escaped the vigilance of the staff of a hospital in Caen had thrown herself into the void. Justice has just canceled the compensation it had granted him.
When a suicide attempt leads to colossal debt! This is the dramatic story of a patient admitted to the psychiatric hospital of Caen (Calvados) in 2005, for lack of space in the establishment’s child psychiatry service. The girl, who was 16 at the time, had run away and threw herself from the ramparts of the town’s castle, explains Point.
As a result, she has been quadriplegic ever since. This tragedy was initially mitigated by a decision of the administrative court of Caen rendered in 2011. He had recognized the responsibility of the hospital and granted 80,000 euros to the victim as well as 30,000 euros to his parents. A decision confirmed on appeal by the Nantes court which had stressed that “the responsibility of the hospital is not questionable”.
During her hospitalization, the young woman was indeed on her third suicide attempt since April 2004. And despite the recommendation of “vigilance +++”, a nurse had left her clothes in her room. She was therefore able to dress and flee despite the theoretical surveillance of two agents.
Two contradictory judgments
Except that today, this sentence is called into question. And the young woman, who was suffering from anorexia nervosa at the time of the facts, must reimburse the sum she received. This turnaround follows an in-depth review of the case. The administrative judges of the same court of Caen considered that the hospital had a “temporary lack of supervision”, but that it was not sufficient to represent a real responsibility. An astonishing verdict, because it is based on the same documents as in the first trial.
The victim’s family is now claiming € 1.3 million
For his part, the family lawyer continued to point out the errors of the hospital which had resulted in a conviction at first instance. At Agence France Presse (AFP), he explained that the hospital had belatedly warned the parents and the police. In addition, the description of the clothes made to the police, “jeans and gray hooded sweatshirt”, did not correspond to reality. She was wearing a ‘white sweater and [un] sky blue pants ”.
For this reason, the family has appealed against this new decision and is now claiming, “all losses included”, a sum of 1.3 million euros.
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