A non-place was rendered in favor of a private clinic and the hospital center of Orthez, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, five years after the death of a pregnant patient for which will be continued only a Belgian anesthetist, drunk at the time of the facts, we learned Wednesday from judicial source.
Anesthetist prosecuted for "aggravated manslaughter"
In an order for reference dated 31 May, the investigating chamber of the Pau Court of Appeal referred to the Pau Criminal Court the only Helga Wauters, 49, prosecuted for "aggravated manslaughter". The date of the trial has not been fixed.
The family of Xynthia Hawke, the 28-year-old patient who came to give birth and died, "is pleased that the investigation is over and a trial is being held, but we regret the non-indictment of the clinic and the hospital center. ", told AFP Me Philippe Courtois, family lawyer. "When the hearing date is known, we will try to remove this disappointment by bringing the two institutions to trial by direct quotation," added the lawyer who believes "their responsibility can not be excluded" in the employment of an anesthetist with problems with alcohol.
The baby had survived
On September 29, 2014, the anesthesiologist administered the epidural to the parturient before going out for a drink with friends. But the childbirth was bad, and a cesarean had become necessary. Recalled, Helga Wauters who smelled alcohol on her return, according to her colleagues, had used a manual balloon to ventilate her patient instead of the block respirator, and had intubated the digestive tract instead of the respiratory. In cardiac arrest, the patient was transferred to Pau Hospital, where she died. His baby had survived.
The indictments of the two institutions had already been lifted in the past, the investigating chamber considering that an establishment "as a legal person, could not know the antecedents of the anesthetist".