An association of kidney patients, Renaloo
, filed a complaint
against
Renaloo explains that it was informed in the summer of 2023
“that a significant number of patients had undergone emergency dialysis in recent years, without medical necessity, in a lucrative private health establishment in Nancy”
.
These patients
“suffered from acute renal failure, the treatment of which should have required medical care, but in no case dialysis”
, specifies the association in a press release.
“The seriousness of the acts committed in Nancy is exceptional and requires the intervention of justice.”
“The Renaloo association has filed
a complaint against
by Nancy, François Capin-Dulhoste.
The complaint, registered Monday,
“is currently under study”
by the prosecution, he said.
According to the association,
“the National Commission for Ethics and Alerting in Public and Environmental Health (CnDAspe) noted “acts of medical mistreatment, endangerment of vulnerable people and serious deviations from good medical practices””
and would have transmitted the case in September 2023 to the public prosecutor of Nancy, to the National Council of the Order of Physicians and to the Biomedicine Agency.
Analysis of medical records is underway
The patients' association also deplores
"the inertia of the institutions' response to whistleblowing in Nancy"
and regrets that
"the incriminated practitioners are still active"
.
Last November, however, the establishment took the decision to
“place any new dialysis prescription under supervision by an external nephrologist (kidney specialist, Editor’s note”)
, specifies Renaloo.
Asked by AFP, the Nancy-Lorraine Private Hospital (HPNL) indicated that
“in spring 2023, discrepancies within HPNL's team of liberal nephrologists led certain practitioners to alert management and to reports”
.
“All the recommendations”
of an independent expert
“were very quickly implemented, with the assistance of a recognized professor of nephrology who monitors them on a daily basis
,” indicates the establishment.
“The analysis of the files (medical files of patients followed between 2021 and 2023) by the competent services is in progress and will make it possible to conclude on the materiality of the possible failings of the liberal professionals concerned”
.
Two unannounced inspections by the Grand-Est Regional Health Agency (ARS) relating to the organization of the dialysis center were carried out in the fall.
When contacted by AFP, the ARS did not immediately respond.
Installing a dialysis catheter and carrying out unjustified dialysis sessions exposes you to the risk of complications, which can lead to death, explains Renaloo.