In 2004, a Mosellen was diagnosed by the (CHU) of Nancy for an Alzheimer’s disease. He was followed and treated for this pathology for 10 years when he was not affected by this disease. Saturday, December 20, the victim revealed his story to the daily Le Républicain Lorrain while wishing to remain anonymous.
A life turned upside down by a false diagnosis
Following this diagnosis, the victim was declared unfit for work. She lives locked up at home and takes a number of drugs with dreadful side effects. “Depressive state, vomiting, nausea, memory problems …” explained his lawyer Me Jean-Christophe Duchet. “In reality, he was simply suffering from cognitive impairment probably related to a former head traumasaid the lawyer.
“Having Alzheimer’s when you were only forty years old (…), I felt like a disaster. I said to myself that I had to do something so as not to be a vegetable or a burden. But I did not have the courage,” revealed the victim to the daily Le Républicain Lorrain.
In response to this surprising affair, the CHU of Nancy declared that “in the state of knowledge in 2004, we could not do otherwise than make the diagnosis ofAlzheimer’s“.
“Yet in ten years the medical data have evolved considerably on this disease”, recalls the victim’s lawyer. Wondering about the fact that during these 10 years the diagnosis had not been questioned.
It was not until 2012 that the replacement for her usual neurologist, who had retired, discovered the misdiagnosis. She makes him stop the treatment. And, it will take two years for the victim to be totally convinced of “this good news”.
“He lost ten years of his life, ten years of anguish”, according to his lawyer Me Jean-Christophe Duchet.
To questions from AFP, the spokeswoman for the Nancy University Hospital just said that she was unable to comment on this case and that “we will have to wait for the results of the judicial expertise”.
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