the attacked nurse is dead, announces François Braun

MISCELLANEOUS – The Minister of Health, François Braun, announced this Tuesday, May 23 the death of the nurse attacked with a knife the day before at the CHU of Reims (Marne). On Monday, the latter and a medical secretary were hospitalized in critical condition after being attacked in the early afternoon by “ a 59-year-old man, from Reims, with a psychiatric history”according to a previous press briefing from the authorities.

“I have just learned with great sadness of the death of Carène, a 38-year-old nurse who was violently attacked yesterday at the Reims University Hospital. My thoughts are with his loved ones, his colleagues, as well as all the hospital teams bereaved this morning.wrote the minister on Twitter.

The medical secretary, 56, was still in critical condition on Monday evening. After a visit to the Reims University Hospital on Monday, François Braun hinted that she was “exit from the operating room” and was “in the recovery room”.

The respondent, quickly arrested after trying to flee, “ seems to have acted without any apparent motive, especially since he had no appointment in this service” of “ occupational medicine and health », according to a press release from the Reims prosecutor, Matthieu Bourrette. He “ seems to suffer from severe disorders and has been the subject of a reinforced curatorship measure for several years”.

The suspect in custody

This man was first taken into custody for “ assassination attempt” and the investigation entrusted to the central police station in Reims. After the death of the assaulted nurse on Tuesday, the facts were reclassified as « assassinated »announced the magistrate.

The defendant had benefited in June 2022 from a dismissal “ for criminal irresponsibility” after having been “ indicted in Châlons-en-Champagne for acts of aggravated violence”he added. “This case was soon to be discussed by the investigating chamber of the Reims Court of Appeal to rule on the security measures likely to be taken”is it specified in the press release.

“I will convene a committee before the end of the week with all the stakeholders, the unions, the professionals” pour « see what can be done to guarantee even more safety for caregivers »promised François Braun during his press briefing at the hospital.

The president of the French Hospital Federation (FHF) Arnaud Robinet, mayor of Reims, expressed on Twitter his “ support for the hospital community » and shares his deep emotion”. The Federation stressed in a press release that “ this aggression enrolled “ in a more general context marked, in recent years, by several acts of physical or verbal violence in public hospitals”.

Relatively rare precedents

While incivility is frequent in hospitals, serious attacks on nursing staff in health establishments remain relatively rare. Among the latest cases, in February, five staff members were injured by a patient in the emergency room of the Ambroise-Paré hospital in Boulogne (Hauts-de-Seine).

In September 2020, people in the emergency department of the Robert-Debré hospital in Paris were injured by a man “ clearly drunk » and in January 2019, a patient assaulted three emergency room staff at Saint-Antoine Hospital in Paris. The most serious attacks have taken place in mental institutions.

In April 2002, a nurse from the psychiatric hospital in Bron (Rhône) was fatally injured with a knife by a 19-year-old young man being treated for schizophrenia. In December 2004, a nurse and a caregiver at the psychiatric hospital in Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) were killed during their night on duty by a 21-year-old former patient, also suffering from schizophrenia.

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