This is testimony that once again illustrates the recurring difficulties of regulation within overwhelmed emergency services. From a hospital center that remained closed to a Samu for a long time unreachable, a mother of a family from Vendée told this way West of France the “suffering” she went through nine days ago when her baby was examined, then struggling to breathe.
Iman Couasnon lives in Les Sables-d’Olonne, in the Vendée, and is the mother of a seven-month-old baby, Abel. It was first on social media that she told the story, on July 16, of the hospital nightmare she had to face for her son, before being contacted by West of France this Wednesday.
“My baby can’t breathe”
The mother, who confesses in the preamble to having had “the fear of her life”, then resumes the chronology of the events of this day, Monday, July 11. That day, little Abel had a fever, and when night came, he even began to experience “difficulty breathing,” according to his mother. Iman and his companion immediately take him to the hospital. Address: Côte de Lumière hospital center in Les Sables-d’Olonne. However, they will not pass the gates. Literally: the two parents and the little patient are effectively locked in front of an airlock that refuses to open for them.
On the other side of the intercom, a voice told them: “It’s impossible for you to get in, we don’t have enough doctors, I’m sorry.” Iman is not disarmed and exclaims desperately:
“My baby can’t breathe, help me.”
The diagnosis falls
Nothing works. The parents then try to join the Samu, but are unsuccessful. Iman then tries to alert the firefighters and they send her back to…the Samu. But the second call to the emergency transport service is just as futile as the first. Iman and her companion then decide to leave the place to go to another hospital. It will be the Departmental Hospital Center of Vendée, in La Roche-sur-Yon, about thirty minutes by car. During the journey, they also call the establishment that connects them -this time- with Samu and with a referring doctor who delivers an initial diagnosis. “He explains to us that our baby must have laryngitis,” recalls Iman.
They arrive safely at half past midnight, and immediately the entire local pediatric service is activated around the seven-month-old patient and his swollen vocal cords. An intervention that will not be reassuring for the mother of the family.
“The entire service came to the room, paraded, we did not understand anything. When the pediatrician told me that she was going to notify the Nantes intensive care unit, I collapsed, ”she recalls.
“Support Doctors and Hospitals”
Five days later, fortunately, Abel is better and his condition is no longer a concern. “We were able to return on Saturday. Normally, it should not have any consequences, according to the doctors,” specifies Iman, who also stresses that he supports “the doctors and the hospital enormously” and does not want to “lower” them. And he salutes especially the pediatric service that treated his son in La Roche-sur-Yon. “They were impressive,” she says. She does, however, have one complaint:
“I understand that there are people, but we really have to reevaluate the priorities. A baby who can no longer breathe, we put him first.”
The same contacted by the newspaper of the West, Dr. François Brau, co-director of the Samu Smur Emergency Department at the Vendée hospital center, offers a nuanced comment on this episode. While he acknowledges that Abel’s case was “well, an emergency,” he explains the need for an evaluation.
“La patiente s’est présentée spontanément aux urgences des Sables-d’Olonne. Ce n’est pas forcément adapté, compte tenu de la surcharge de travail. Ce n’est pas le rôle des urgences de réguler”, justifie-t- The.
François Brau also asks for a preliminary phone call at 15 before moving. He notes that the boy’s initially stable condition degenerated overnight, resulting in his hospitalization.
Source: BFM TV
