Tuesday April 14, the mayor of Plouasne and three other people were placed in police custody after “intentional violence leading to the death” of a resident. A few days earlier, an intervention to forcibly hospitalize a sixty-year-old woman causing disturbances in the neighborhood had indeed turned into a tragedy. The woman, mistreated, did not survive.
An intervention that degenerates
The facts date back to April 7. That day, the mayor and a municipal councilor tried to prevent this 66-year-old woman from returning to her home, with the stated objective of having her hospitalized in a psychiatric unit. According to the Saint-Malo prosecutor, Fabrice Tremel, this decision followed disturbances that it caused in his neighborhood.
But the intervention quickly takes a violent turn. According to the investigation, supported by videos, four people held the sixty-year-old on the ground for nearly fifteen minutes, with “different degrees of involvement”. She is placed face down on the ground, subjected to prolonged pressure, while her legs are tied with a rope and a strap.
Two other elected officials, present on the scene, did not intervene to assist him. Gradually, the victim loses consciousness. Despite attempts at resuscitation on site, then the intervention of emergency services, she died.
Without much doubt, the autopsy established a probable link between this immobilization and the death of the sixty-year-old.
A completely out-of-frame procedure
Very quickly, the investigation revealed serious shortcomings. No municipal order for compulsory hospitalization had been issued. Even more serious: no medical certificate had been established beforehand, even though this is an essential condition.
The prosecution opened a judicial investigation for several charges, including “arbitrary arrest leading to death“, “intentional violence in a meeting leading to death without intention of causing it” And “failure to assist a person in danger”.
The mayor has since been indicted and placed in pre-trial detention.
Can we forcibly hospitalize someone in France?
Contrary to popular belief, it is not possible to “intern” someone based on a simple personal or political decision. As recalled by Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician and author of “Mental health, everyone concerned!”we must talk today abouthospitalization without consentstrictly regulated by law.
“There are two main frameworks: at the request of a third party (…) and by decision of the administrative authority when mental disorders compromise the safety of people or public order”, he explains.
Several conditions must apply in this first case:
- Proven mental disorders;
- An impossibility for the person to consent to care;
- And a need for immediate treatment with medical supervision.
The demand is generally based on two medical certificates.
In the second case, we speak ofcompulsory hospitalization. “Hospitalization by decision of the representative of the State is pronounced by the prefect”, specifies the doctor. The mayor can only intervene in the event of imminent danger, but provisionally, pending rapid validation by the prefectural authority.
“The essential difference between these two interventions is that in one case we start from a need for care, in the other from a risk to security or public order”summarizes Dr. Kierzek.
In all cases, these procedures are based on a rigorous medical evaluation. “The objective always remains the same: to protect, evaluate and treat, not to punish.”
A case revealing serious abuses
Plouasne’s intervention did not respect any of these rules. Neither legal framework, nor medical validation, nor appropriate intervention: the initiative taken by local elected officials has transformed into a dangerous physical intervention, without competence or authority to carry it out.
This case highlights the limits and risks of confusion between neighborhood disorder and psychiatric pathology, but also the crucial importance of the legal framework. Because when it comes to mental health, improvisation can have irreversible consequences.