The son of an octogenarian who died of an infection contracted at the Remiremont hospital lodged a complaint in order to access the medical file. This is the 12th complaint against the establishment. The plaintiff’s lawyer denounces a worrying general situation.
On July 22, 2021, an octogenarian hospitalized for two broken ribs died following a bacterial infection. Her son wants information about the circumstances of his mother’s death. He denounces the administrative obstacles that the hospital of Remiremont (Vosges) would oppose to him. He decides to lodge a complaint in order to have access to the medical file. His master lawyer Nancy Risacher denounces an attitude which would consist in putting a spoke in the wheels of his client: “As a lawyer, I requested the communication of the file in its entirety: refused. However, the law of 2002 and the decree of March 5, 2005 provide that a lawyer can have access to the file. Today there are today a retention of information that is becoming unbearable.”
At the end of January 2023, seven complaints target the Remiremont hospital for deaths that have remained unexplained. • © France Televisions
Contacted by telephone, the director of the establishment affirms for his part that access to the medical file is not blocked but he must meet specific motivation criteria. The applicant was informed by e-mail six months ago so that he could write a request in conformity with the legislation but would never have answered.
This complaint is the twelfth filed in a year against the Remiremont hospital. Four judicial inquiries for manslaughter were opened by the Epinal prosecutor in January 2023. A worrying series for the lawyer who defends the civil parties grouped within the association AJC FOR THEM.: “since July 2022 twelve complaints have actually been filed for: search for the cause of death, involuntary homicides, ill-treatment, medical error, injuries, therapeutic relentlessness and non-compliance with the deceased person’s advance directives.”
Filing a complaint at the police station
For master Risacher these cases have in common the same guiding thread: “the lack of response to the legitimate questions posed by the victims and the heirs of the deceased.”
In the case of this 82-year-old woman who died of a bacterial infection, having only obtained a simple report from the hospital, she invited the son of the deceased to file a complaint at the Remiremont police station in order to access the entire file. This process is essential for drafting a detailed complaint.
A deafening silence
For the civil parties, the goal is not to close the hospital or to harass the medical teams but to understand why the establishment opposes A deafening silence families looking for answers to their questions. An essential step to be able to mourn specifies the lawyer.
For Nancy Risacher, the case of Remiremont is emblematic of the general deterioration of the public hospital in France, victim of a lack of means, personnel and the exhaustion of the nursing teams.
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