The Norman hospital group will pay more than 360,000 euros to the relatives of a nurse who ended her life in 2016. The judges held the establishment responsible for a degraded professional environment, at the origin of the tragedy.
The Le Havre hospital group (GHH) was ordered to pay more than 360,000 euros to the relatives of a 44-year-old nurse, mother of two children, who had committed suicide in 2016, according to information communicated to AFP on November 17 by the administrative court of Rouen.
This hospital employee “endured moral suffering linked to her professional environment during the period preceding her suicide”, suffering which is “at the origin of her act”, and “is moreover not disputed by the GHH ”, writes the court in its decision of October 28.
“For several months, members of the hospital staff, including” the nurse who terminated her life, “were called upon to intervene in the sector of newborns subjected to vital risks, without having benefited from a adapted training ”, underline the judges.
The hospital committed “a fault” because it did not take into consideration the mother’s wish to no longer practice in neonatal intensive care, and because she also did not benefit from a support for taking up a post in this sector, they point out.
“A motivated and determined professional”
The court sees it on the part of the hospital “a breach of its obligation of safety and protection with regard to the person concerned”.
“On June 24, 2016, the day before resuming work after a nine-day leave”, the nurse, described by her direct supervisor as “a motivated and voluntary professional”, committed suicide at her home, according to reports. judges.
She left “a letter indicating that she could” no longer live “with” the feeling “of having committed” something serious “on the occasion”, on the night of June 14 to 15, 2016, of the “transfer of a premature newborn in intensive care, a delicate operation ”.
On April 14, 2017, the director of human resources had recognized the responsibility for the death of the nurse in the service, according to the judgment.
But before the judges, the GHH “rejected the allegations relating to the wrongfulness of the behavior of the establishment”.
The sum of 360,000 euros is intended for the nurse’s two children and their father. It relates to economic damage, affection and legal costs. The eldest child was 17 years old at the time of her mother’s suicide. The other was still a minor when the application was filed on April 1, 2019.
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