A trial as a "springboard" towards the truth: after 16 years of fighting, Bernard Elhaik and his family have obtained a trial against the AP-HP and a neurologist for a misinterpreted MRI and "lies" which, according to them, led to the death of his daughter, Carole Darmon.
This Friday, March 14, 2008, this 36-year-old mother, "in perfect health", complained of an atrocious migraine.
At the Bichat hospital in Paris, initial tests ruled out a serious pathology.
A neurologist, Tarik S., signs his discharge slip on Saturday after an MRI scan that he considers normal.
On Monday morning, the doctor called her back for a further examination. Carole Darmon returned to the hospital and suffered a "massive" stroke that afternoon.
In a vegetative state, she died on November 6, 2016.
The medical records will show, according to the investigation, that "discreet but indisputable" signs of haemorrhage in the brain appeared on the MRI which was therefore the subject of a "manifest error of interpretation".
On November 29, a Paris investigating judge ordered a trial for the Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (AP-HP) and Tarik S. for involuntary injuries with total incapacity to work of more than three months. Two years of imprisonment are incurred.
Asked by AFP, the AP-HP lawyer, Me Benoit Chabert, did not comment.
Tarik S.'s lawyer, Bernard Grelon, said he was "deeply surprised" by this trial but "convinced that he could demonstrate the absence of any offence" by the doctor.
In her order, which AFP has seen, the investigating magistrate underlines "the length and complexity of this legal procedure" which "added to the ordeal suffered by this family".
On the merits, the judge identified two faults: on the one hand, "the discharge on Saturday without a radiologist reading the examination and without writing a written report". On the other hand, "the latency time", "several hours", "for the care of Carole Darmon on Monday".
The family's lawyer, Romain Boulet, speaks of a "terrifying procedure", in which he even had to "use a private detective." "Never," he continues, "have I encountered such resistance from the institution."
Bernard Elhaik himself described the trial to AFP as a "great victory" but he said he hoped, through other procedures, to "find those truly responsible", in particular a radiologist who, according to him, read the MRI on Saturday but did not make a report. The investigation did not implicate her.
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