"This story has been brewing for years": how a famous Grenoble surgeon ended up being accused of destroying the lives of his patients

By fashionlifeshopping 27/12/2022 1118 Views

"My leg will not grow back." Frédérique Bagalino has a broken voice when she talks about the forty operations she underwent to try to save her leg after an intervention by doctor Hervé V. "I lost everything. My husband, my family, my leg, my work", she confesses in a choked voice. His fight now: to help the other alleged victims of this orthopedic surgeon at the Cedars clinic in Echirolles, in the suburbs of Grenoble, to overcome "this annihilated life".

The court accuses the surgeon of having operated unjustifiably and of having carried out poor post-operative follow-ups which led to serious sequelae in twenty-eight of his patients, between 2013 and 2014 – the orthopedist also continues four of them and the defamation trial is being held at the Grenoble Criminal Court on Monday July 15. But the number of alleged victims of Doctor V. could be much higher, according to sources familiar with the matter. And many of them wonder how this surgeon was able to continue to practice while doubts about his operations were accumulating.

A surgeon with a meteoric rise

Hervé V., 49, is well known in the region. Originally from Rhône-Alpes, the surgeon did his internship at the Grenoble University Hospital between 1995 and 2001, before devoting himself to orthopedics and traumatology. Having become one of the back specialists in the region, he quickly enjoyed a very good reputation among his peers as well as many patients. Eric Berton, 50, victim of a serious infection which nearly cost him his life after a cervical operation in July 2017, consulted him "on the advice of [his] attending physician", he says. a hoarse voice.

The same confidence from Christophe Fuselier. This 46-year-old truck driver suffers from his back and has a series of sick leaves. After seeing several doctors who found him too young for an operation, he met Hervé V. "The doctor said to me: 'If I operate on you, in six months you will go back to work'", he explains. He accepted without hesitation in 2007. Ten years later, his left leg was amputated due to complications. As for Frédérique Bagalino, 49, it was with "eyes closed, without asking any questions", that she underwent surgery in 2009 by the doctor whom she "did not know before at all".

It must be said that the specialist from Grenoble, armed with diplomas, is experiencing a meteoric professional rise. After fourteen years at the Grenoble University Hospital, he left the civil service in October 2009. He then took on the status of liberal, set up his practice and joined the team at the Clinique des Cèdres in Echirolles, in the suburbs of Grenoble.

In parallel with his medical activity, the surgeon continues to publish in referenced scientific journals and regularly speaks at national and international congresses. He took on more and more responsibilities within the clinic and became quality assurance manager in 2011 and two years later one of its sixteen co-administrators.

Self-satisfaction despite early mistakes

A fine career that did not save him some criticism at the time. Some of his former patients thus describe him as a rather distant character. "I do not remember a surgeon who is in empathy", recalls Frédérique Bagalino, who meets him for the first time for a broken ankle following a fall on Christmas Eve 2009. Between a screw that breaks, an infection and bouts of fever, she has to return three times in a row to the emergency room before being taken seriously by the surgeon.

She ends up seeing another surgeon and decides to file a complaint against the clinic's emergency department in 2010.

Rare in his pre- and post-operative visits to his patients, Dr. Hervé V. nevertheless shows constant self-satisfaction. “The day after my operation, he came into my room and told me that he was very happy with the result,” squeaks Eric Berton. A few days later, weakened and feverish, he developed an imposing cyst in his neck. The doctor “drags” and re-operates him belatedly.

If the doctor acknowledged in writing that he had forgotten a compress, "he never had a word of apology", exasperated the former patient.

The first hitches that did not stop the ascent of Hervé V., who developed a concept of a pedicle screw to be implanted in the spine. In order to market his innovation to the company Safe Orthopaedics, he gave up his three patents in 2013 in exchange for a percentage of sales. Two years later, he boasts, as a user, the merits of this orthopedic material in a letter addressed to the shareholders of the company.

But time seems to be running out more and more for this professional exercising a so-called "at-risk" specialty. In 2015, the High Authority for Health (HAS), responsible for patient safety, withdrew its accreditation. Because he no longer meets the two obligations required by the HAS, which are the analysis of harmful incidents he encounters in the course of his activity and training.

Suspicious files for Social Security

During all these years, the surgeon's presumed errors did not tarnish his career because they were regarded as isolated therapeutic hazards. Until Social Security sounded the alarm in 2016. Renowned as one of the fifty most pugnacious CPAMs with regard to doctors, the Primary Health Insurance Fund of Isère identified 54 files suspects of the Grenoble doctor between 2013 and 2014. Among these cases, 30 patients experienced post-operative sequelae up to amputation. In his report, the medical adviser criticizes the Grenoble surgeon for "the insufficient, inappropriate and disloyal nature of the information" provided to his patients, the absence of "justification as to his surgical indications" as well as "the lack of follow-up post -operative".

After a complaint filed by the CPAM, the Grenoble prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation in December 2016 for "endangering others" and "fraud and failure to assist a person in danger". Not enough to destabilize Doctor V. who continues to perform operations. However, a new complaint was filed by Christophe Fuselier in 2017. It targets the Grenoble University Hospital and not him directly. "He ruined my life," accuses the former truck driver. Cloistered at home all day, unable to stand for a few moments, he took ten years to find the energy to take his case to court. He is imitated by Eric Berton who in turn files a complaint during the same year.

Suspended but not struck off

Eleven months later, the health insurance fund sanctioned him on November 25, 2017 and demanded reimbursement of the medical expenses incurred in the amount of 35,302.94 euros. The surgeon appealed, on January 25, 2018, before the National Council of the Order of Physicians, arguing that "the analysis of his activity was carried out against him, only two of the patients in question having had a litigation process".

Hervé V. disputes the accusations of the CPAM's medical adviser, but his defense is weak. During the various summonses before the members of the National Council of the College of Physicians, the surgeon supports "without proof the attempt to influence the medical adviser on the expert doctors" responsible for evaluating the 52 files. He "affirms without demonstrating that he provided his patients with clear, intelligible and fair information", specifies a document that franceinfo was able to consult.

The National Council of the Order of Physicians finally makes its decision a year later, on January 15, 2019. A "relatively short" period, according to the organization, because on average it takes more than a year and half. Thus from May 1, 2019 and until November 30, 2020, the Grenoble doctor no longer has the right to practice. Suspended for three years, including eighteen months suspended, he is also ordered to pay the amount due to the CPAM of Isère. The disciplinary chamber of the Order of Physicians of Rhône-Alpes also inflicts a reprimand on April 25, which he appeals.

The testimonies of victims are multiplying

At the same time, the press seizes the story of the "horror surgeon". Serge Pueyo, a journalist from Grenoble, is "the one who brought the affair to light" with his articles for Le Parisien, from April 10. "This story has been brewing for years," he says.

The testimonies of alleged victims are linked in the local media: Serge Gillet, 62, operated on for a herniated disc in 2014, has been in a wheelchair since; Bakary Diakité, after four back operations because of incorrectly placed screws, only moves with a walker and has to lie down most of the day. All recount their daily suffering after an intervention by Dr. Hervé V. Amer, Eric Berton wonders. "The victims are people who have small incomes from whom he took money. Strangely, the mother of my general practitioner, for her everything went well," he says.

It is difficult to know the real motivations of Doctor V. For the moment, he remains silent. Neither he nor his lawyer Bernard Boulloud responded to requests from franceinfo. Considering himself the victim of a cabal, the surgeon even brought a defamation lawsuit against four of his former patients, including Frédérique Bagalino and Christophe Fuselier, and two newspaper directors.

While waiting for the Grenoble doctor's version, the Grenoble High Court received the results of the police investigation on June 18. The public prosecutor, Eric Vaillant, confirmed to franceinfo the opening of a judicial investigation against Doctor Hervé V. for "involuntary injuries resulting in an ITT of more than 3 months". "An additional complaint having reached us in June 2019, it was transmitted to the investigating judge", he adds, bringing the number of complainants to 28.

Like his companions in misfortune driven by the same determination, Christophe Fuselier "will not give up until the doctor is struck off and I compensated". And the list of plaintiffs could grow because "fifty former patients" have contacted Edouard Bourgin, the lawyer who deals with the alleged victims. "We are on the eve of a major local health scandal," he said.

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