• A patient from the Bordeaux University Hospital died on March 10, 2018. She waited more than ten hours before being transferred to intensive care.

  • The court considered that a malfunction of the establishment was in question and that its responsibility was engaged.

  • The court ordered the CHU to pay the sum of 47,378 euros to the patient's estate and heirs for their damages suffered.

The patient's condition would have been underestimated.

The Bordeaux University Hospital was ordered on Tuesday to compensate the family of a 48-year-old patient who died on March 10, 2018 in hospital, where she had waited more than ten hours to be transferred to intensive care, according to a judgment of the administrative court. .

“The delay in care in the intensive care unit which resulted from the underestimation of the seriousness of the state of health of Mrs B (…) reveals a defect in the organization and operation of the public hospital service, likely to engage the responsibility of the CHU of Bordeaux”, underlines the court in its judgment consulted Friday by AFP.

The court ordered the CHU to pay the sum of 47,378 euros to the patient's estate and heirs for their damages suffered.

A 50% chance of survival loss

The patient, suffering from Still's disease, a rare inflammatory syndrome, had been admitted to the emergency room of the Bordeaux University Hospital on February 28, 2018 after an illness on the plane.

He had been diagnosed with right pneumonia and prescribed antibiotic treatment.

The patient, mother of two children, was again admitted on March 8 at 10 a.m. to the CHU, at the Haut-Lévêque hospital where she was being followed, with fever and low blood pressure.

But his condition worsens and at 12:30 p.m., the Samu is alerted to organize his transfer to the Saint-André hospital of the CHU, three kilometers away, which has an intensive care unit.

The emergency medical team did not arrive until 8:30 p.m., ten and a half hours after her admission to hospital, to transfer her to intensive care where she died two days later from acute respiratory distress syndrome. .

The court estimated that the “delay in taking charge” of the patient in intensive care had caused her a loss of chance of survival of around 50%.

In a press release, the Bordeaux University Hospital “accepts the judgment as formulated by the court.

The establishment will not appeal this judgment and will bear the financial consequences for the patient's family”.

During the hearing, the CHU's defense had argued that the care of the patient was "in accordance with the rules of the art" and that no causal link could be established "between the alleged breaches and the death whose cause is not determined”.

"No fault can be recognized in the care of Mrs. B in determining the diagnosis, in the organization of the service and in the monitoring of the patient", had also underlined the defense of the CHU.

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  • Bordeaux

  • Aquitaine

  • Chu

  • Intensive care

  • Justice