The Minister of Health Olivier Véran went briefly to Deux-Sèvres on Friday morning, before his visit to Moselle, to meet the family of the psychiatric nurse killed a year ago by a patient, and hand him over the Legion of Honor posthumously, corroborating sources told AFP.
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The minister, as part of a private visit, met the family of the nurse in Saint-Martin-de-Sanzay, near Thouars, as well as a delegation of colleagues of the young woman present on the day of the tragedy, and awarded the Legion of Honor for service to the nation, said a source among hospital staff.
The Ministry of Health confirmed to AFP the minister's meeting with the family as well as the decoration, without further details.
On February 13, 2020, Élodie, a 30-year-old nurse, was stabbed in the parking lot in front of the psychiatric unit of the Center hospitalier Nord Deux-Sèvres in Thouars.
Helicoptered to the Poitiers University Hospital, this mother of two children died a few hours later.
The suspect, a 20-year-old young man who had been hospitalized for a few days initially of his own volition, had been indicted for "
murder and attempted murder
" because he had also failed to injure another nurse.
He had been remanded in custody.
The CGT of the North Deux-Sèvres hospital center described Friday as "
important that the minister meet the family as well as our colleagues
", and "
good thing
" the award of the Legion of Honor, even if obviously "
we would prefer all that she is among us
”.
A year later, the Thouars psychiatric unit where the victim worked, closed shortly after the tragedy, reopened two out of three services, with additional nursing staff and the reinforcement of shared doctors through a partnership with the Henri-Laborit hospital center. de Poitiers, indicated the CH Nord Deux-Sèvres.
The CGT deplored that "
it took a tragedy for things to move in the right direction
".
The CH Nord Deux-Sèvres must observe a minute of silence on Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. on its sites in memory of the murdered nurse.