On November 28, 2015, Antonio, a 14-year-old teenager, was sent home following a visit to the emergency room of the EpiCURA hospital in Hornu.
The teenager felt unwell, he had chills and his temperature was high. The emergency doctor gave him an aspirin and an anxiolytic, considering that it was the beginning of the flu. However, the young man suffered from Opsi syndrome, since his spleen had been removed at the age of five. He died at home the same evening of pneumococcal sepsis.
The file not taken into account
It appears from the investigation that the emergency doctor who treated him did not realize the risk of infection. According to a college of experts appointed as part of the investigation, the emergency doctor did not use the medical file mentioning the patient’s history. He therefore did not look for information in the medical literature, accessible on the internet in particular. According to the experts, the emergency doctor had access to it and he had to draw up a general picture of the patient.
In addition, the parents stated that they informed the doctor regarding their child’s state of health. The latter demanded an antibiotic, like the one another doctor had administered to the young man in 2010. This medicine was not given to him…
The emergency doctor only contented himself with taking the opinion of a pediatrician, by telephone. The public prosecutor had requested his acquittal, considering that the pediatrician had not been properly informed by his colleague. Therefore, he had not analyzed the situation well.
Finally, the Hainaut Criminal Court, Mons division, found the emergency doctor guilty of manslaughter. The doctor benefits from the suspension of the pronouncement of the conviction for a period of three years. The hospital and the pediatrician, for their part, are acquitted.