Seven years after the death of a 14-month-old child at the Fontainebleau hospital in Seine-et-Marne following gastroenteritis, the parents give themselves up and hope for a trial. The hospital was charged with manslaughter.
The drama took place in 2016 at the Fontainebleau hospital in Seine-et-Marne: little Amandine, only 14 months old, was admitted to the emergency room for gastroenteritis. In an interview with The Republic of Seine-et-Marnethe parents want a trial to understand all the circumstances that led to the death of their daughter.
In October 2022, the hospital was indicted for manslaughter. Fabien, Amandine’s father, is angry and accuses the medical establishment of not having taken care of his daughter as it should: “Only a trial would bring out the truth. I just want it to be done justice, because that night she was abandoned”.
“Inadequate monitoring”
On the legal side, the parents had to fight for many years before they could file a complaint. An investigation had been opened to find the causes of death and the parents had seized the Conciliation and Compensation Commission which deals with medical accidents.
Several assessments have been carried out. A first reported a heart problem for the child, but a 2019 second opinion, requested by the family, contradicted this theory. This second expertise underlines “unsuitable clinical and biological monitoring”. She concludes that “for Amandine, the loss of chance linked to the non-correction of dehydration is greater than 90%”.
What happened that night?
The Republic of Seine-et-Marne summarizes the evening of the drama thanks to the testimony of the father. The child was ill the day before hospitalization and a general practitioner had detected gastroenteritis. His state of health worsening despite treatment. The parents had gone to the hospital: “She looked very weakened, was very pale and dizzy”.
After being admitted to hospital and placed in pediatrics, she was reportedly left for “two hours” in a “medical nothingness”. Also according to the father, his daughter was suffering from dehydration and it was only then “that they took into account her blood test”. She died two hours later of cardiac arrest.