A physiotherapist unwittingly sent six people to the hospital. He took the wrong cans and poured a toxic product into the water treatment system of a balneotherapy center.
A study on 300 curists recently showed an improvement at the end of the treatment in the reduction of stress, and the reduction, or even the discontinuation, of tranquilizers. Despite this good news, cures also sometimes have unpleasant surprises. They are in any case the one of the various facts this Friday.
Seven people (six patients and a physiotherapist) have just been hospitalized in Charente-Maritime, after chlorine poisoning in the balneotherapy area of a health center in Gémozac, near Saintes.
An error of cans
The fault of a physiotherapist at the medical center who, at the end of the morning, quite simply “made the wrong cans by replenishing the water treatment system of the balneotherapy area with chemicals”, explained the mayor of Gémozac , Loïc Girard, at Agence France Presse (AFP). “It created a chemical reaction. A cloud of chlorine formed and seven people inhaled it, ”he added.
The physiotherapist and the six patients were slightly intoxicated by the fumes and transferred to the hospitals of Saintes and Jonzac. In respiratory distress, they were placed there under surveillance, although their state of health does not cause concern, said the emergency services. Their vital prognosis is indeed not engaged, according to South West. But the physiotherapist and another victim should, however, spend the night under observation in the hospital.
About thirty firefighters were dispatched to deal with the incident, including “technological risk specialists”, who had to intervene under protective suits.
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