In December 2017, despite several calls to various emergency services to warn about her state of health and her pain, Naomi Musenga, 22, died. His family has since struggled to understand the causes of his death.
In December 2017, Naomi Musenga, a young woman from the Strasbourg region, died after several calls to the SAMU. She was not taken care of, the operator who answered the call not having understood the seriousness of the situation. For 4 years, his family has been fighting to have the SAMU’s error recognized. Indeed, the evening when Naomi Musenga telephones, neither the operator nor the firefighters take the young woman’s pain seriously enough. A first medical examination leads to attributing the causes of death to an overdose of paracetamol. However, his family asked for a second opinion, the new report of which refutes the first results.
According to France Blue Alsace, Naomi Musenga is believed to have died of an abdominal vascular accident. When questioned, the victim’s sister reacted: “Nobody wanted to look for the real reason, why we as a family had to do a new expertise? It’s not normal. Why this lie? The hospital must admit its wrongs”. Following the death of the young woman, the question of racism within the medical profession arose, doctors evoking a prejudice among caregivers, baptized “Mediterranean syndrome” (when a black or Maghrebian person is taken less seriously because one considers that he or she would tend to exaggerate).
The Naomi Musenga case questions the training of SAMU operators
Naomi’s death could have been avoided, with prompt treatment. How to properly assess the expression of pain? How to reduce the transfer times between different operators: Samu, firefighters, SOS Médecins… How to overcome the lack of resources, while keeping a minimum humanity on the phone? Between Naomi Musenga’s first call and her death, two and a half hours passed.