Published
Two doctors are accused of the death of a patient following a routine operation. They deny.
An intervention, a priori trivial, had been fatal to a 62-year-old woman on September 3, 2014 at the Hospital of Sion (VS). The drama was played when the tube placed in the trachea of the patient under anesthesia had been removed. A normal procedure, but which had become complicated to the point that the sexagenarian had suffered a cardiac arrest. Taken to intensive care, the unfortunate had never woken up.
Accused of homicide by negligence, an assistant doctor and the executive doctor responsible for anesthesia appeared yesterday before the Court of Sion. The expert’s report revealed that the assistant doctor had brought the patient out of the operating room alone and into the extubation airlock. There, he did not connect a device to observe possible complications.
“Deep down, the defendants know they made mistakes,” said Deputy Prosecutor Marie Gretillat. She demanded a 180-day suspended fine and 6700 francs. fine once morest the responsible physician. The assistant faces a 90-day suspended fine and 1000 francs. of fines.
The lawyers pleaded acquittal. “My client is neither guilty nor responsible,” says Me Stéphane Jordan. Lawyer for the assistant, Me Odile Pelet recalled that the experts had considered that her client “did not have the skills to perform anesthesia alone”.