Laon surgeon implicated after several failed operations

C This story is full of pain. It refers to a risky medical practice: the reduction of the stomach in the fight against obesity. Since 2007, after a first complaint for manslaughter, the justice instructs in Laon a voluminous file implicating a spawn surgery considered one of the best in France. Maher Hamdan practiced at Laon Hospital for several years. Several national weeklies cited, at the time, the Laon hospital as one of the best centers in France against obesity.

But after the laurels came the time of bandages and even convoys Undertakers. Three deaths pose question. Instructions are in progress on the side of justice. It is missing details. But the testimony of one of the families concerned makes it possible, without doubt, to have some reference points.

This is an article published in L'union which serves as a starting point for this drama. A victim recognizes a surgeon who praises his practice. She does not admit it. She then contacted a lawyer from the Soissons Bar, Arnaud Miel. An instruction is opened. Surgeon Hamdan is indicted in 2011 for three manslaughters and unintentional injuries to other patients.

Necrotic stomach
                    
                

For the families of the victims, the wait is long. Especially for Cécile Hansali who was operated by Dr. Hamdan at the Laon hospital on July 19, 2012. At the time, the young woman, who weighs 183 kg, has the impression that only the sleeve gastrectomy, – operation which consists to reduce the size of the stomach – will allow him to lose weight.

"
                     When I met him the first time, he introduced himself as a specialist, he spoke well, he seemed to know each other, I trusted him
                    "Says the young woman. Only three days after the operation, the mother is transferred urgently to the Parisian hospital Bichat. She complains of severe stomach pain. A leak of the sleeve is detected, a priori because of a suture defect and an infection. His stomach is necrotic at the level of the upper two-thirds. It must be removed.

Cécile Hansali must be operated again. The ordeal of the young woman begins. She is only suffering, she can not eat, feels unwell, must be put under oxygen. "
                     My life stopped. I am in a state of constant fatigue
                    ". In recent months, the young woman suffers in particular from hepatic colic, "
                     They are even worse than those of childbirth
                    She says. His daily life is punctuated by his trips to the emergency room. "
                     My children and my husband also suffer from this situation
                    ".

On September 20, she will have to return to the operating table for five hours because the risk of a strangulated hernia is too great.

Justice too slow for the victims
                    
                

Cécile Hansali filed a complaint against Dr. Hamdan on August 24, 2015 with the Chauny gendarmerie. She met an expert on May 17, 2017, but since then, nothing. "
                     My lawyers have still not received the report. One wonders, why is it so long
                    ?

The appeals and letters sent to the investigating judge remained dead letters. "
                     We are told that the instruction is in progress, but nobody seems to panic
                    The young woman, who does not feel like being heard as a victim, is indignant. "
                     I am degrading day by day, when will we recognize my suffering
                    ?

Under the law, Maher Hamdan is still considered innocent. No doubt it is useful to recall it. Interviewed by us in 2015, Dr. Maher Hamdan said: "
                     It's been fifteen years since I've been bothered by this affair. Obesity surgery is a serious and difficult surgery that is rarely performed by surgeons for this reason. Patients are informed each time of this danger and the risk of dying. I did six hundred operations a year on average. I am implicated for three deaths but the families of these patients have filed a complaint in an administrative court and they have not won. "
                

A trial in 2019?
                    
                

This statement by the surgeon draws attention to one point. Obviously, that's the number of trades practiced in a year, six hundred on average depending on what he said. A surgical factory rhythm that can surprise, frighten. But again, it is the opinions of the experts who will weigh during the trial. When will it be held? If the plaintiff's lawyer is leaning for 2019, Counsel
                    Dejas, the surgeon's lawyer, considers that "
                     a trial next year, it seems presumptuous .