A patient, operated on for a simple intestinal obstruction, emerged blind from a clinic in Angers (Maine-et-Loire). Justice opens its case on Tuesday.
It took nine years of proceedings and three expert opinions for the case to be judged. Queen Cailton, a patient operated on for a bowel obstruction, emerged blind from the operating room. The high court of Angers (Maine-et-Loire) is looking into this case of medical error on Tuesday.
Late support
On February 2, 2006, Queen Cailton, then aged 54, presented at around 10 p.m. to the emergency room of the Esperance clinic in Angers for stomach aches. The diagnosis falls quickly: intestinal obstruction. “But the retiree, left unattended for several hours, was not operated until twenty-four hours later, despite very alarming signals”, explains The Parisian.
This delay in taking charge of the patient will have serious consequences. The daily even reports that “one of the doctors will be satisfied with prescribing treatments by telephone”.
The patient’s condition worsens until cardiac arrest. The optic nerves have therefore ceased to be supplied, “which made him blind”, specifies Nicolas Orhan, his lawyer.
“My mother was a lively, bright, prepared woman. Today, she no longer has a taste for anything. She spends her days sitting in her chair, ”explains Isabelle Siraudin, the retiree’s daughter. “No compensation, no acknowledgment of error, no excuse, not even compassion”, she laments on BFMTV.
“Inappropriate” decisions
For Nicolas Orhan, quoted by The Parisian, “The poor management of the patient has a direct, certain and exclusive relationship with her current blindness”. The responsibility of the clinic, the surgeon and the anesthesiologist is beyond doubt for the lawyer, who relies on several “overwhelming” medical expertise. The last one in question mentions numerous “faulty negligence: delay in surgical treatment, improper resuscitation, improper decision, improper care”.
Reine is now claiming two million euros in compensation. “For nine years that this lasts, the family has received no financial assistance, the doctors persistently say that they have not made any fault”, concludes Nicolas Orhan.
.
