Doctors in the intensive care unit believe that the teenager is unlikely to recover. Parents want more medical evidence.
Inès’ parents want time to say goodbye to their daughter. The 14-year-old girl has been on respiratory assistance since June 22 in the pediatric intensive care unit of the CHU de Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle). A month after his hospitalization, the doctors collegially decided to stop treatment. A decision contested by the parents who appealed to justice, report the Republican East.
The daily reports that the young girl suffers from myasthenia gravis. This autoimmune disease progresses in seizures and causes muscle weakness that can affect several muscles. The most serious complications are respiratory muscle damage, as patients may need a respiratory assistant.
“Almost zero healing possibilities”
The teenager reportedly suffered a serious attack in June and was the victim of cardiac arrest. Since then, she has been hospitalized at the Nancy University Hospital and has benefited from mechanical ventilation and the administration of sedatives. Care that doctors consider unreasonable.
“The history, the clinical examination, the results of the imaging, the electroencephalographies are a concordant beam testifying of possibilities of improvement or almost nil cure according to the current data of science”, wrote the head of department in its report on July 21.
Broken dialogue
But for Inès’ parents, a chance, however small, exists. “They do not believe that their daughter’s situation is irremediable,” explained Frédéric Berna, the parents’ lawyer. For them, it is not in a completely vegetative state because they could observe that it happened to him to make movements, in particular of the hand or the arm. “
A neuropediatrician however explained to the family that these gestures were certainly reflexes. But the dialogue between parents and doctors seems to have broken down. Convinced that the hospital wants to “make room” and recover beds, the parents no longer believe the medical team.
The example of Marwa
“At this stage, they only ask that we suspend the procedure by judicial decision, in order to have all the scientific and ethical elements necessary for their reflection. Then the parents of Inès will make a decision, according to their own values, their morals and their religion ”, indicated to The Express the family lawyer.
The parents of Inès therefore asked the judges of the administrative court of Nancy to designate a college of doctors so that a new diagnosis on the state of health of their daughter is established. The judges are expected to rule this Thursday, September 14.
The lawyer supports his argument in particular on the case of little Marwa. Last March, the Council of State ordered the doctors of the Marseille University Hospital to continue treatment for the little girl suffering from an irreversible motor deficit. Now 21 months old, the child would be taken care of in a specialized center in Hyères (Var). According to the parents, her condition has improved enough – she is still staring but is reportedly moving her toes – to hospitalize her at their home.
.
