Outcry over woman’s death after distress call
STRASBOURG: French prosecutors opened an inquiry into the death of a young woman just hours after her distress call to emergency services was mocked by the operator, prompting a public outcry and renewed calls for more funding for health services.
Naomi Musenga, 22, dialled France’s emergency dispatch number on Dec 29 last year complaining of severe stomach pains.
In a recording of the three-minute call obtained only recently by her family, Musenga’s voice can barely be heard as she says: “It hurts all over” and “I’m going to die...”
“You’re going to die, certainly, one day just like everyone else,” the female operator responds.
She is also heard mocking Musenga’s complaints with a colleague, before telling the victim to call a doctor for a house visit.
Five hours later Musenga, who was alone, again calls the emergency services, which finally dispatch the ambulance that brings her to a hospital in Strasbourg, France.
But she died shortly after arriving from a heart attack.
According to French daily Le Monde, an autopsy revealed that Musenga had suffered multiple organ failure.
The emergency services operator, who is facing potential charges of “failing to assist a person in danger” according to Strasbourg prosecutors, has been suspended from her post.
A lawyer for the victim’s family said that he would file a lawsuit in the coming days, denouncing claims that the hospital waited five days before carrying out an autopsy.
“All we know for now is that there was a quick deterioration of organ functions which led to Naomi’s death, but we don’t know what caused this rapid failure,” the lawyer, Mohamed Aachour, said.
“Would things have turned out differently if the emergency servic- es had intervened faster?”
Health Minister Agnes Buyzn posted on Twitter she was “deeply outraged” and had ordered an inquiry into the “serious failures” by the emergency services.
She said that she would meet with emergency practitioners next week to discuss Musenga’s case.
Christphe Gautier, director of Strasbourg’s hospital system, said that an investigation had been opened and that he had met with the victim’s family.
“We owe them the complete truth concerning the conditions of her care by the emergency services,” he said. — AFP