the debate on the role of general practitioners revived by a court case

For greater than a month, the workplace of Physician Jean Méheut-Ferron, in Angerville-la-Martel, close to Fécamp (Seine-Maritime), in Normandy, has been closed. This 64-year-old basic practitioner, with a college diploma in palliative care, is beneath the affect of a "Whole ban" to train after being indicted for "Administration of a dangerous substance which resulted in demise with out the intention of giving it to a susceptible particular person".

Justice accuses him of getting delivered to a number of sick or end-of-life sufferers Midazolam (distributed beneath the identify of Hypnovel), a strong sedative solely delivered by hospital pharmacies and really helpful by the Excessive Well being Authority (HAS) for arrange deep and steady sedation till demise. It was by his spouse, an anesthesiologist-resuscitator in a clinic, and now additionally prosecuted by justice, that the overall practitioner obtained this product.

As a part of the investigation, the our bodies of seven former sufferers had been exhumed. Traces of Midazolam had been present in 5 of them. "The judicial data ought to concentrate on figuring out the causal hyperlink between the absorption of merchandise and the demise of sufferers, but additionally the true intention of the respondents", declared the general public prosecutor in Le Havre to newspaper Paris-Normandie. No household involved has complained.

"Bringing one of the best to sufferers"

If he admits to having used Midazolam in a manner "Parsimonious and light-weight", Jean Méheut-Ferron assures us that it was not a query of euthanasia. "It was not a query of accelerating demise, or of unnecessarily prolonging the affected person. It was actually, strictly talking, assist. ", argued the physician to Paris-Normandie, explaining the right way to use this product "For twenty-two years" : "It’s the finest product in one of these use, it was not for me to place above the laws however to supply sufferers with one of the best. "

Arousing the indignation of many basic practitioners, the questioning of the practitioner by justice has reopened the controversy on the accompaniment of the top of life at residence. "Jean Méheut-Ferron is somebody good: he’s competent, sharp, rigorous … That it fell on him is unjust. It was a shock within the career ”, says Antoine Leveneur, president of the Regional Union of Liberal Medical doctors (URML) in Normandy. "This has referred to conditions that we’re a quantity to have identified", he mentioned, indicating that he had despatched a letter to the Minister of Well being, Agnès Buzyn, on December 6 to alert him to this case.