Three hundred thousand euros. That is the hefty sum that the Nord Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS) of the Nord department and Roubaix Hospital to a man in his forties, who became quadriplegic following a stroke on 17 August 2012, which was initially misdiagnosed by the emergency services.
On that day, after feeling unwell in the street, Christophe, then aged 37, called the fire brigade at around 8 pm. He described his symptoms: a feeling of being drunk despite not having had a drink, and difficulty speaking, according to AFP. The emergency services suggested it might be a “heat-related episode” and advised him to go home.
But as he was about to head home, he collapsed in the street and was found by a passer-by who called the SDIS, who then took him to Roubaix Regional Hospital. The doctors were slow to arrange an MRI scan for him, and by the time the scan was finally carried out, it was already too late: Christophe’s brain had been damaged as a result of a stroke. A neurological examination revealed a diagnosis of ‘locked-in syndrome’, which results in complete paralysis but leaves his intellectual faculties intact. He has been ‘quadriplegic’ and ‘dependent’ ever since.
"A service disruption"
After six years of legal proceedings, on Wednesday 16 May the Lille Administrative Court ordered the SDIS and Roubaix Hospital to pay the victim €315,287.43 in compensation for the harm he had suffered. According to the investigation, the “3½-hour delay” in treating the patient “had the effect of depriving” the victim “of a 30 per cent chance of a less adverse neurological outcome and of suffering less severe after-effects from the stroke he suffered”.
"It is clear from the call he made to the fire brigade that he was in distress and, in any case, that the operator who took the call failed to take the necessary action. This is a failure on the part of the service,” said Blandine Lejeune, Christophe Blard’s lawyer, speaking on BFMTV.
