During her third delivery, a woman was the victim of an epidural error in a hospital in Val d’Oise. Since then, she has been in a vegetative state. Her family decides to file a complaint in order to have the establishment recognized as responsible.
- On August 10, 2019, Lucie B. went into cardiac arrest after receiving the final dose of the epidural.
- Since her brain was not irrigated for 14 minutes, the patient was put into an artificial coma, 98% disabled for life.
- After reporting on the liability of the accident, the ICC acknowledged a medical error. However, the victim and his family have still not been compensated.
This medical accident dates back to August 10, 2019. On that date, Lucie B., a mother of two children already, was in the maternity ward of the Simone-Veil hospital in Eaubonne, because her third baby was soon to show the tip of his nose. After a few hours of labor, she asked the medical team to benefit from the epidural. As a reminder, this is a partial anesthesia that numbs the lower part of the body by injecting a product into the space between two vertebrae. If this medical procedure, the dosage of which is adapted throughout childbirth, helps relieve pain, it allows to preserve the sensation of contractions, the reflex to push and, in some cases, mobility. In general, complications are rare. However, for the resident of Val d’Oise at the time aged 35, the epidural went wrong.
Epidural: her heart stops and her brain is deprived of oxygen after the final dose
According to France 3after her request for an epidural, an anesthesiologist trainee complied. In the presence of a midwife, the latter injected her with a test dose, as indicated by the protocol, in order to assess the reactions of the mother-to-be. She was seized with convulsions and had difficulty breathing. However, a few minutes later, the trainee still administered the final dose. This is when the patient’s heart stopped. The medical team quickly reacted and managed to save her child and restart her heart. However, her brain suffered serious and irreparable damage, because for 14 minutes, the organ was deprived of oxygen. Result: the woman, now 40 years old, is in an artificial coma, 98% disabled for life. The latter, who has been in a vegetative state since 2019, is currently staying in a clinic in Taverny, according to The Parisian.
“There was a perforation of the protective membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.”
Faced with the outcome of this medical error, Lucie B.’s family decided to file a complaint with the Pontoise public prosecutor’s office and highlighted the hospital’s responsibility in this accident. According to a panel of experts, “There was a perforation of the dura mater – that is, the protective membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal cord – the fluid rose to the brain.” He reports that the intern did not follow the protocol. The apprentice “did not wait the required 20 minutes between administering the test dose and administering the final dose”said, France 3the lawyer for the patient’s relatives, Maître Yacine Djellal. “This error contributed 100% to the damage suffered” the patient, according to a professor.
The lawyer also points out that the intern administered the epidural without supervision. “A trainee must always work under the supervision of his supervisor, he is not there to act. He is there to learn.” However, in a statement, the hospital management specified that it was “under the responsibility of a senior doctor” In “the night of August 10-11, 2019” and could thus carry out this medical act. “The hospital is completely refusing to provide me with the information I am requesting. That is to say, the internship agreement, but also the intern’s on-call schedule.”which would allow us to know “if he had worked dozens and dozens of hours of guard duty”, said Yacine Djellal.
Although experts appointed by the Île-de-France Medical Accidents Conciliation and Compensation Commission (CCI) concluded that there was a medical error, Lucie B. and her family have still not been compensated. But the hospital said, in Parisianto want “that the family be compensated for the damage suffered, as assessed by the competent authorities.”
