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A mother will file a complaint against the CHU of Saint-Nazaire after the death of her baby from meningitis

2023-02-19T11:18:45.972Z


TESTIMONY – Flavie, a resident of Saint-André-des-Eaux, believes that her six-month-old baby was poorly cared for at the Saint-Nazaire University Hospital. Devastated, she wants to obtain reparations and to change mentalities about a disease that she considers "not well enough known".


Le Figaro Nantes

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The frame is placed on a piece of furniture in the kitchen.

Inside is a portrait of a smiling Constance.

The one who

"fought like a lioness"

against

"pneumococcal bacterial meningitis"

is no longer of this world.

Six months old, she fell asleep definitively on November 29,

“in my arms”

recounts with emotion her mother, Flavie.

Resident in Saint-André-des-Eaux (Loire-Atlantique), the young woman tells Le

Figaro

"the nightmare"

experienced last fall.

It started the day before Halloween.

That evening, her baby is seized with strong vomiting.

"I've never seen that"

, retraces this nurse in a specialized reception center (MAS) where she takes care of people with multiple disabilities.

Despite the scale of the phenomenon, she calms her daughter, who goes back to sleep three hours later.

At the time, she thinks of gastroenteritis.

Nothing more.

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The next morning, the situation is not much better:

"She was sleeping in her bath, which is unusual for a child of this age."

Flavie then contacts the Samu who directs her to the emergency room of the Saint-Nazaire University Hospital:

“The pediatrician felt her stomach.

He mentioned dehydration.

He then mentioned a lack of space and then sent me home with a prescription for Doliprane and a rehydration solution

.

That same evening, concern overtakes Flavie's mother.

She finds that her granddaughter Constance

“has puffy eyes”

.

Without her knowing how to explain it -

"a reflex in the face of worry perhaps"

- Flavie begins to take pictures.

On November 1st in the morning, she has the impression of having

“a rag doll”

in her arms.

She contacts SOS Médecins.

The practitioner who intervenes at his home writes a letter and urges him to return to the emergency room of the local university hospital.

"The Falling World"

After several examinations (blood test, lumbar puncture), the diagnosis is made: a suspicion of meningitis.

“At the time, I tell myself that it is not so serious.

Constance's father had had it as a child and got away with it on antibiotics.

I thought it would be the same for my daughter”

, evokes Flavie who recognizes that she did not know this disease until then.

For Constance, the scenario is quite different.

She must be placed in intensive care.

A place was found for her at the Nantes University Hospital:

“Before leaving in the ambulance, we were told by her father and me that she was going to be placed in a coma and intubated for her safety.

The sky is falling on our heads.

We were in shock.”

“We are told that her brain is badly affected, that she will be handicapped for life.

For his father and me, the world is falling apart.

Within the Nantes hospital, the initial diagnosis is confirmed.

Despite everything, the first hours brought hope:

“After being transported, Constance breathed again on her own.

She was moving, had her eyes open

.

Except, that the

"nightmare resumes"

soon after.

Flavie notices tremors in her daughter.

Located in the hands, they will then spread.

It's an epileptic seizure.

The baby is placed in a coma again.

The situation will last almost two weeks.

The doctors then decide to wake up the child.

Problem: she has no reaction.

A Doppler is performed then an

“emergency”

MRI .

The results confirm the concerns of the medical profession: Constance has water in the brain.

“We are told that her brain is very damaged, that she will be handicapped for life.

For his father and me, the world is collapsing”

, describes Flavie.

vegetative state

Her baby is transferred to the Angers University Hospital, which is better equipped to set up a bypass while it is being operated on.

At the end of the operation, Constance's condition did not improve:

“The head of pediatrics then called us with her father.

He told us she would remain in a vegetative state.

For us, it was not possible to leave it like that.

Decision is made to baptize her and then to repatriate her to the University Hospital of Nantes, a site closer to the rest of the family and friends of the couple of parents.

It was in this place that the heart of Constance stopped on November 29:

“I couldn't bear to see her like that.

I asked the medical profession to stop.

She spent her last moments with me.

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This tragic story, Flavie shared it on social networks.

Since then, she has received many testimonials of support.

Some come from other parents facing the same disease.

Sometimes their children have also unfortunately died or have serious consequences from meningitis.

So many stories that make him want to fight.

In turn, Flavie begins a struggle.

His fight is twofold.

She wants to get reparations first.

According to her, the Saint-Nazaire University Hospital did not do its job properly:

“I am very angry because my daughter's state of health has deteriorated at home.

If she had been taken care of from the start, I'm sure she could have made it."

So she contacted a lawyer.

"I feel like I need it"

“We are going to start criminal proceedings by filing a complaint against X with the Saint-Nazaire court.

The purpose of this action is to determine any personalized breaches.

At the same time, there will be an administrative procedure carried out with the administrative court of Nantes against the CHU of Saint-Nazaire”

, specifies in

Figaro

, Me Étienne Boittin.

Complaints will be made

“within fifteen days”

, he estimates.

“I don't know if this procedure will help me with my grief but right now I feel that I need it.

I would like the doctor to realize his mistake, the fact that he was not conscientious enough”

, adds Flavie.

"I want my daughter's short time on Earth not to be for nothing"

For its part, the CHU of Saint-Nazaire does not wish to go into the details of the care of little Constance, evoking

"medical information which is secret"

.

The health structure indicates to

Figaro

that it had an exchange in mid-December with the family of the child

"to inform them about the methods of recourse available to them"

.

She adds that Constance's medical file has been transmitted.

Since then, there has been no contact between the two parties.

“However, we are at his disposal [de la famille, NDLR] or his representatives to provide all the necessary information on the smooth running of this care”

, completes the CHU of Saint-Nazaire.

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A possible exchange which will be done through Flavie's lawyer.

She

“does not want”

to discuss with the hospital.

Faced with those who accuse her of being interested in money – she has received a few malicious messages to this effect on social networks – she cuts it short:

“Money will not bring my baby back to me.”

Its action is above all motivated so that the case of Constance

"serves as an example"

and that

"mums are listened to more"

by doctors.

Prevention with parents

This is also the second facet of his current fight:

“I want my daughter's short stay on Earth not to be for nothing”

.

For this, Flavie is committed to

"doing prevention"

about meningitis.

On social networks, she answers questions addressed to her and recalls the importance of vaccination.

“Meningitis is a disease that is not well enough known, not enough publicized”

, she believes.

Flavie says she is ready to tell her drama on television to alert other parents.

"We must not fall into psychosis either

," she tempers in the face of certain alarmist messages received.

At the same time, she would like

“doctors to be better trained so that they no longer confuse meningitis with flu or gastrointestinal illness”

.

His current credo can be summed up as follows:

"If by my action, I can save a life, I will be very proud of it."

Not long ago, Flavie already received a thank you message from a mother.

She explained to him that her son had come out of it with meningitis and that he had been taken care of quickly because she had read his story and had made the connection with Constance's case.

The symbol that the memory of this baby is not limited to photos in a frame.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-02-19

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