Between 2020 and 2022, three patients died inexplicably at the Remiremont hospital center. Three “manslaughter” investigations are underway to clarify the circumstances of these deaths.
“I want to know why I don’t have a mom anymore.” Azidine A. tries to clarify the circumstances of the death of a loved one while hospitalized in Remiremont, in the Vosges. And he’s not the only one in this situation. According to information from BFMTV.com, Azidine A. is the third complainant to initiate “manslaughter” proceedings against the hospital.
Three complaints are to date “subject to judicial investigation before the investigating judge, counts of manslaughter”, confirms the public prosecutor of Epinal, Frédéric Nahon.
On July 7, 2020, Azidine’s mother was transported to Epinal hospital center after a bad fall. The first x-rays diagnose a fracture of the femur and femoral neck. The 78-year-old woman was later transferred to the Remiremont branch, but tests there revealed only a problem with her knee replacement.
“Get me out of here, save me”
The patient is operated on the day following admission, with discharge scheduled a few days later. But her state of health deteriorates rapidly after the operation and, according to her son, completely inexplicably.
“He called me crying, saying, ‘Get me out of here, save me,'” she recalled.
Worried, Azidine goes to the hospital and discovers her mother weakened, “all white, sweaty, had difficulty breathing”. Then the situation gets carried away under the eyes of Azidine, shocked. “Suddenly the nurses arrive, intubate my mother and put her in a coma. They explain to me that her vital prognosis is committed, but without telling me why”, she recalls before adding, bitterly:
“A few hours later, my mother died. A ‘mysterious’ death, a doctor told me. I was shocked by this comment.”
Four months later, on November 17, 2020, a mediation was arranged at the request of the patient’s family with Remiremont Hospital to provide answers to their questions. Interview that ends with a new failure: “In the report it is written that ‘the worsening of his state of health remains inexplicable’ and that it is not possible to give an explanation to the death”, Azidine A.
“I think there was a mistake somewhere, or at least a bad sequel. It haunts me, I want to know why my mother asked me to save her…”, torments this resident of Nancy.
“Eerie” similarities.
Azidine A. decided to take the case to court on Dec. 7, two years after the fact, because he recently discovered he’s not the only one dealing with the unexplained death of a Remiremont patient. The Souque family also filed a “manslaughter” complaint against the hospital on Nov. 9 following the death of 67-year-old Martine Souque. Over the summer, the 60-year-old was hospitalized in the same service as Azidine’s mother after breaking her femur.
A few days after the operation, “the hospital warns us that my mother is in resuscitation but that there is little hope. We are stunned because we are emerging from a situation in which there is nothing serious in a sudden and inexplicable deterioration” Angélique, the victim’s daughter, explained to BFMTV.com at the end of November.
When the family tries to understand what happened to Martine Souque, she hits a wall: “We have deaths every day, we don’t always know the cause,” they would have told her.
The misunderstanding intensifies at the sight of the patient’s medical records. “According to the nurses’ broadcasts reported in the file, at 4:15 am my mother called to complain of chest pains. so we can imagine that she had recently died. Why was a woman who complains of pain all night long left unattended for three hours?” asks Angélique Souque. Contacted by us, the director of the Remiremont plant told us that he was “willing to receive the Souque’s family to try to answer all their questions, although this reaction certainly comes with a little delay”.
The similarities between these two cases are “very disturbing”, reacts Me Nancy Risacher, the lawyer for the Souque and Azidine A family. “Has the hospital made mistakes because it lacks staff and means, or is it notorious incompetence?”, he asks .
A fourth complaint for “misdiagnosis”
Me Nancy Risacher also represents Jean-Bernard Rouillon who is the first to have initiated a “manslaughter” procedure against the Remiremont hospital. He filed a complaint in May 2022 after the unexplained death of his wife of 59 years, which he also attributes to the negligence of medical teams, he tells us.
Finally, a fourth complaint targets this same hospital, this time for a misdiagnosis, Me Risacher points out. “My client fractured ten ribs without realizing it during the scan carried out by the Remiremont hospital. An error of which he is currently suffering the consequences, particularly at the level of the lungs”, underlines the lawyer. Contacted again by BFMTV.com, Remiremont hospital has not yet responded to our inquiries.
