Le Figaro Bordeaux
How can we explain that Florence Bonvoisin, a 68-year-old retiree living in Guadeloupe and who was due to have dental implants placed in Gironde, died following a heart attack, which occurred a few minutes after anesthesia?
This is the question asked by his family members, who filed a complaint for involuntary manslaughter with the Bordeaux court, through their lawyers, Messrs Philippe Courtois and Chloé Robert, for whom this case raises many questions.
“It was a local anesthesia, during which there was a cardiac arrest, which led to death”
summarizes Me Courtois in Le
Figaro
.
The lawyer explains that in addition to Florence Bonvoisin's dentist, based in Gujan-Mestras (Gironde), another practitioner had come from Paris to carry out this installation of new implants with her.
After the cardiorespiratory arrest,
“the two dentists tried to revive her but could not”
.
A 35,000 euro operation
The firefighters then intervened and administered adrenaline, which did not allow Florence Bonvoisin to regain consciousness.
She was transferred to the Bordeaux university hospital center, where she died the next day of cerebral edema, on July 4, 2023. A death which could be linked to poor dosage during anesthesia, and which therefore raises questions on the responsibility of the two dental surgeons.
The family would also have learned of the possibility of a medical error
“by reading the file”
, explains the lawyer.
Several months after the events, Me Courtois therefore hopes that the blood tests carried out by the University Hospital have been preserved, in order to be able to determine what caused the death.
“We’re not looking for a conviction, we just want to know what happened.”
According to the lawyer, there would be
"a lot of gray areas"
in this case, around the price of the operation (estimated at 35,000 euros by the Parisian dentist), the presence of the municipal police in addition to the firefighters, or even on the quantity of anesthetic injected.
“Extremely rare and extremely serious facts”
The CHU in fact realized
“that there was a problem with the weight”
of Florence Bonvoisin.
A difference of around 10 kg with that taken into account by the dental surgeons was noted by the hospital, suggesting a possible overdose.
It is also possible that the practitioner
“went too far in stinging”
, injecting the anesthetic product beyond the gum, and therefore directly into the bloodstream.
So many questions to which the lawyers hope to have an answer, thanks to the hearing of the two practitioners.
“All hypotheses were considered by the University Hospital, ranging from problems of overdose to heart disease
,” explains Philippe Courtois.
Finally,
“everything was ruled out except the overdose”
.
It would therefore be a problem with the anesthesia which would have led to this unfortunate conclusion.
However, despite the particular circumstances of this death,
"the hospital did not notify the prosecutor"
, is surprised by the family's lawyer, who questions this decision, while the acts allegedly committed would be
"extremely rare and extremely serious
.
An autopsy was not performed and the victim was cremated.