Seven complaints have been filed following the deaths of patients deemed suspicious by their relatives at the Remiremont hospital (Vosges), announced the public prosecutor of Epinal, Frédéric Nahon, on Saturday January 21. “I have opened four judicial inquiries against X for manslaughter”detailed the magistrate, plus another for “unintentional injuries”. The prosecutor added to have received another complaint for manslaughter, for which an opening of judicial information is ” very likely “.
Attorney Nancy Risacher, who is following up on six of the seven complaints, said she was drafting an eighth manslaughter complaint. Only one of her clients has so far been heard by the investigating judge, she added. Mme Risacher also reports that she was contacted by “several other people”whose cases she is reviewing to see if further complaints could be filed.
Three patients, aged 59, 67 and 78 respectively, died two years apart, between July 2020 and July 2022. Two of them had entered the hospital for a fractured femur and the other for acute pancreatitis, had previously explained Mme Risach. Another patient says the hospital failed to detect his ten fractured ribs.
” State of the art “
The hospital’s lawyer, Frédéric Berna, deplored a “hype” around the file, judging “daring to lead a campaign against the hospital when we know the difficulties of French hospitals today”. “There are internal processes [à l’hôpital] which for the moment show that there are no particular faults, and if there are criminal investigations, we will explain ourselves (…) serenely before the judge”he added.
At the beginning of January, elected officials from the Vosges had given their support to the teams at the Remiremont hospital center, denouncing “press campaigns” having ” targeted “ the establishment. At the end of December 2022, the management of the hospital had said “sorry about the situation” and had put forward a “care according to the rules of the art”. According to the director, Dominique Cheveau, these complaints will shed light on the facts: “We ask only to understand what happened. »