The retirement home manager was ordered on Thursday to pay more than 65,000 euros in damages to the son of an elderly person who died in 2017.
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The case was tried in civil court. The private group of Ehpad Orpea was condemned for negligence, Thursday June 16, following the death in 2017 of a resident who died after being hospitalized for an unexplained double fracture of the femurs, announced the court of Nanterre. The company was ordered to pay more than 65,000 euros in damages to the son of this invalid elderly person.
“The direct link between SA Orpea’s shortcomings and the death of [la résidente]“ is “established”, can we read in the reasons for the judgment. The court recalls “the legal obligation of nursing homes to ensure the dignity, integrity and safety of people holding residence contracts”.
The judgment is based on the conclusions of a legal expert, according to which “a trauma suffered by [la résidente] in the retirement home Le Clos des Meuniers [à Bagneux, Hauts-de-Seine] is the cause of his double fracture of the femurs and his death”.
“Despite staff alerts to anorexia, slowing and drowsiness of [la patiente] since the end of August 2016, the coordinating doctor has not contacted the treating doctor or the family”, denounced the expert. Nor did the doctor “practice of clinical examination of [la patiente](…) confining himself to observing the aspect of the left knee and mobilizing it gently”he continued.
Finally, “an abnormally long period of four hours elapsed between the moment the injuries were discovered and the transport of [cette personne âgée] to the hospital”. The expert adds that the deceased was fragile “before the accidental event due to weight loss progressing for at least several months leading to severe malnutrition”.