Medical error: a woman who is 4 months pregnant has an abortion

In 2011, Zahra E., 4 months pregnant, went to the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul clinic in Lille (Hauts-de-France) to undergo uterine cerclage, an intervention aimed at preventing premature delivery. But before the operation, a midwife trainee mistakenly gives him an abortion drug. This product was actually intended for her roommate.

Six years later, the management of the establishment, the intern and a nurse are prosecuted for unintentional injury. Their responsibility has been examined by the Lille criminal court since Wednesday April 26.

In the columns of the Express, Zahra explains not to blame the midwife. She just wants to understand how these irreparable mistakes could have happened. “You cannot put a woman who wants to have an abortion next to a woman who wants to keep her child at all costs. It’s too difficult for one as for the other, ”she said.

Do not overwhelm caregivers

Initially, the doctors think it was a spontaneous abortion. They explain to him that his overweight is surely the cause. But two days later, discovering the packaging of the abortion drug in the trash, practitioners understand that Zahra received it by mistake. The intern did not verify her identity when giving it to her.

At the time, the Hospital Group of the Catholic Institute of Lille to which the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul clinic belongs recognized the error and apologized to it on television. But the case had not yet been brought to justice.

The legal aspect only started last September. The Lille tribunal de grande instance then set the compensation at 53,935 euros. But the hospital group having appealed to the Douai court, this amount was halved. The penal aspect is now played out. “We do not want to overwhelm the nurse or the trainee who are lamp workers,” said Blandine Lejeune, the victim’s lawyer at The voice of the North. I want this trial to help us understand how it is possible that the hospital took so few precautions for an act that is not trivial. “