The Saint-Jacques hospital of the Nantes University Hospital. – F.Brenon / 20Minutes
She had committed suicide in December 2014 when she was hospitalized in psychiatry. The Nantes administrative court ordered the Nantes University Hospital to compensate the family of a teenage girl who committed suicide two days after denouncing a sexual assault on the Saint-Jacques hospital site.
“The faults committed by the Saint-Jacques hospital are directly at the origin of the death of the young girl” and “the Nantes University Hospital must be ordered to compensate all the damages resulting from this death”, can we read in the judgment dated Wednesday and consulted by AFP on Friday.
The complaint dismissed
The 15-year-old girl had been hospitalized since July 2014 at Saint-Jacques hospital, which depends on the CHU, due to eating disorders. She had already made two suicide attempts in June 2014. She had filed a complaint for a sexual assault on December 6, 2014 in the park of the establishment during a walk she was taking alone.
The complaint had “been closed because of the impossible identification of the author of the alleged facts”, indicates the judgment. The administrative court considered that the lack of supervision of the teenager when she left the park “is not indicative of a fault in the organization of the service likely to engage the responsibility of the Nantes University Hospital”.
A “failure in supervision”
On the other hand, the fact that she could have committed suicide two days later by hanging with a belt in her room “reveals a failure in the surveillance and a fault in the organization of the service”, we can read in the judgment.
The family (parents, brothers, half-brothers and grandparents) claimed 325,000 euros in compensation.