For the lawyer of the victim’s parents, the young girl, who was to be operated on for scoliosis, died on August 3 after suffering a perforation of the trachea during intubation.
Lilou, 11, died at the beginning of August at the Brest University Hospital (Finistère) when she was due for back surgery for scoliosis. A preliminary investigation into manslaughter by the prosecution is underway and the girl’s parents have filed a complaint.
Guest of BFMTV this Friday, the family’s lawyer, Me Vincent Sehier, denounces a series of errors in the care of Lilou and criticizes the health establishment for a lack of transparency.
A “tracheal perforation”
The teenager, suffering from disabling scoliosis in her daily life, had to undergo back surgery to improve her situation on August 1. During intubation, a “tracheal perforation, or even a double perforation,” occurs, according to the lawyer.
The medical team noticed shortly after that Lilou had purple marks on her body, swelling and that she was coughing. The surgical operation is therefore stopped and the young girl is transferred to an intensive care unit.
“Tracheal perforations can happen, it is a therapeutic hazard, but it is especially in the aftermath where there seems to be a situation that is not well taken into account,” laments Me Vincent Sehier.
A “largely savable” situation
According to him, in the afternoon, a few hours after the initial scheduling time for the operation, Lilou’s parents were received by doctors who wanted to be reassuring. “There is even talk of being able to re-intervene for scoliosis,” explains Vincent Sehier.
The latter explains that it was only in the evening, around 10 p.m., that when taking blood, the doctors realized that the young patient was lacking oxygen and that her organs were in pain. An operation would then have been scheduled for the next day, at 5 a.m., but Lilou died before that.
“The situation was largely salvageable despite the perforation,” maintains the lawyer.
“Things that seek to be hidden”
Vincent Sehier protests in particular against the lack of transparency of the Brest CHRU. “The hospital recognizes errors but not mistakes,” he explains. Contacted by local newspapers, the establishment presented “all its condolences to the young girl’s family” and declared that it “shared the grief” of the parents.
“We have this feeling that there are things that are trying to be hidden,” adds the lawyer, assuring that in cases like this “there are systematically missing documents in the files”.
Lilou was pronounced dead on August 3. For his part, the prosecutor has requested additional medical expertise while the judicial investigation continues.