Toulouse emergencies: is access to care more difficult for people with complex disabilities?
A patient in a wheelchair, cerebral palsy, with suicidal thoughts, was taken to the emergency room of the Purpan hospital (Toulouse University Hospital) at the end of last week. He was not hospitalized by medical decision. The president of Handi-Social denounces the situation. The hospital explains.
A 26-year-old young man, in a wheelchair and with a cerebral motor disability, was taken to the emergency room of Purpan hospital by his life assistant at the end of last week. The latter had observed self-inflicted injuries and suicidal thoughts. Received and examined, the patient finally went home, the emergency medical team of the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Toulouse not having deemed it necessary to hospitalize him urgently.
This decision was deemed unacceptable by Odile Maurin, president of the Handi-Social association which defended the rights of sick and/or disabled people, who called out to the media about this situation. “This young man has a cerebral palsy, he communicates via a tablet. He lives in independent accommodation with the 24-hour presence of a carer. For the past few weeks, he has not been well. emergencies, the doctor decided that he did not need to be hospitalized when he wanted to”, says Odile Maurin who was not present alongside the patient but who reports the situation to alert on access to care of people with disabilities.
He was offered treatment and a medical appointment.
“He recommended harming himself when he got home and when he came back to the emergency room the next day he was again refused hospitalization. Is it because he is disabled and it’s more complicated to take care of it?” asks the president of Handi-Social, known for her declarations and her militant actions.
The Toulouse University Hospital refutes this version. Marianne Pradère, director of the emergency department, explains that this patient “presented as suicidal by his family was received in the emergency room and then seen by a psychiatrist who concluded that there was no need to hospitalize him urgently. But it was explained to him, as well as to his relatives, that an appropriate treatment was going to be offered to him and an appointment with a psychiatrist was given to him. received these explanations again. All the teams really took care of him. welcome this patient and he was taken care of as he should be”.
On the question of welcoming people with a complex disability, Marianne Pradère recalls that “the Toulouse University Hospital has set up the HandiSCo support system in order to guarantee equal access to care”.