Two doctors were sentenced to suspended prison terms and the Nancy hospital to a heavy fine on Friday, May 5. These convictions come in the context of the case triggered by the death of Timéo Thuret-Gaire in 2015. The child, then 4 years old, had lost his life following a drug overdose.
In the spring of 2015, the little boy was admitted to the Nancy CHRU for leg pain, after falling from his father’s motorcycle which was transporting him. Struggling to establish a clear diagnosis after three weeks of care in the infant unit, the medical team decided to prescribe him colchicine, an anti-inflammatory. But a prescription error will lead to the administration, for two days in a row, of sixteen times the required dosage, leading to his death.
The pediatric cardiologist who prescribed colchicine, the assistant head of clinic who did not sufficiently supervise the medical intern in charge of the young patient and the nurse who administered the erroneous prescription were prosecuted.
“We were heard,” responded Timéo’s mother, Elodie Gaire, after the decision was announced. “What we would have liked is that a process with checks be implemented today in this hospital. It is not known whether (…) there have been improvements in the care and prescription of drugs in this pediatric service,” she continued.
“Our fear was that the death of our son would be covered up, that no one would be found guilty and that is not the case, it is already a small step,” added the father of the child, Julien Thuret.
“Serious negligence”
The cardiologist was found guilty of Timéo’s death and given a one-year suspended prison sentence. The court, considering that she was an “experienced, competent doctor”, concluded that she had “left the intern to fend for herself” when “she knew that there was no pediatric version of it,” reasoned the court. His lawyer, Me Frédéric Berna, denouncing a “revolting decision”, has already planned to appeal: “I will never accept a conviction in this case! »
The doctor, who at the time was assistant head of clinic, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence for her “failure to supervise a medical intern”. “There is gross negligence in the supervision,” the court considered.
The young intern in charge of the little boy had obtained the status of assisted witness during the investigation and was not prosecuted.
The nurse who administered the product to the child was released. The court considered that she “couldn’t have known that this medicine was dangerous”, especially since “there was no alert on the pharmacy software” and that she “was not the author of the second shot.” “It is the strict application of the law, no fault could be attributed to him”, reacted his lawyer, Me Virginie Barbosa, at the end of the hearing.
Finally, found “guilty of faults committed by practitioners acting on its behalf”, the CHRU of Nancy was sentenced to a fine of 225,000 euros, more than four times greater than that of the requisitions. The hospital had already been condemned for similar acts in January 2011. It will have the obligation to post the condemnation for two months on the entrance door of the establishment as well as on the door of the pediatric department.
