2023-12-04 17:55:00
Last Wednesday, Jean-Pierre Dussart lost his life even though he had been staying at the Loriers residence in Hannut for only a few days. The octogenarian, originally from Beauvechain, was received there for revalidation. He died there, found outside the building in the early morning. And since then, his family has not taken off. “We don’t know how to mourn, we are in black anger”, explains Nicolas Dussart, one of his four children. Angry at the rest home, at the circumstances of the father’s death, at the conclusions of the investigation carried out.
“My dad wasn’t alone, he was receiving visits from his family. We went there once more the previous Sundaycomments his son. He was doing wonderfully, he was happy to be there. He participated in activities, he socialized. When we left, he was fine.” However, their dad did not want to go to a nursing home. At 88 years old, Jean-Pierre Dussart was still independent and mobile. However, he had suffered several heart attacks a few years earlier. His last attack was coupled with a trombosis in the brain, he had become visually impaired. As he got older, it became difficult for him to live independently. He had been hospitalized for a urinary infection, “he wasn’t drinking enough”. This is how he arrived at the Loriers residence, undergoing rehabilitation. “He was fine there. When we went there, he asked for news of our children, of the family. He still had his wits regarding him and he was happy to be there.”
“He came out in his pajamas, without his shoes”
So what happened last Tuesday night to Wednesday? How did the octogenarian find himself, in the middle of the night, outside the building? There was an emergency door 3 meters from his room. “I saw it, this door. I didn’t push it”, regrets Nicolas Dussart. Because then he would have found that any resident might exit that way. What happened ? His dad probably got up in the middle of the night, found himself in the hallway, pushed open the emergency door and found himself outside on the metal stairs. Did he realize he was wrong? Did he try to pull the emergency door to enter the nursing home? “My father was visually impairedrecalls his son. He walked like a little old man, with a white cane or a walker. He came out in his pajamas, I guess without his shoes. It was -4 degrees that night.” Perhaps he saw the light from the entrance hall of the serviced residence a few steps away… “That’s where we found him, he was lying down. He must have tripped.”
The octogenarian’s children also wonder regarding the numerous bruises seen on their dad’s body. “One whole side was swollen, from the temple to the cheekbone. His elbows and knees were damaged. “As if he had fallen, crawled, gotten up or tried to do so. Nicolas Dussart affirms: the exterior was not lit.
On Wednesday morning, the police came to warn Jean-Pierre Dussart’s wife. “No, my dad didn’t die of a heart attacksays his son today. He had a defibrillator. He died of hypothermia.” And the prosecution’s assertion of a natural death? “There was no duty requested. The case was closed, his death being the result of a heart attack on a public highway. They considered it to be a natural death because there was no the intervention of a third party.” Yes, no one attacked the octogenarian but if he died, it was because he found himself outside in the middle of the night. In any case, this is the analysis made by his family. “We dropped our father off at the rest home, he was their responsibility. If they had placed a sensor that was triggered when we opened the door… It was a serious breach.”
A lack of foresight
At present, the four children, the grandchildren, the wife of Jean-Pierre Dussart want to understand. “Let the people responsible take their responsibility. We want to know why he died of cold outside while he was under the care of the nursing home.”
The day following the tragedy, the president of the CPAS affirmed that emergency doors should not be equipped with a sensor with a buzzer; this is not included in the specifications when building a rest home. Nicolas Dussart, for his part, does not budge: “I understand that it is not obligatory. But there is a lack of foresight. Residents can find themselves outside. And at night, the lights are turned off…” The family wants answers to their questions.
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