Nathalie (Baby aged 6 months, France)

Introduction

I was 35 years old and my husband was 45 at the time of these events. I am a restorer, and my spouse works as a salesperson in construction. We live near Nancy, and my husband has two children from a previous marriage.

Pregnancy and Birth

My labor lasted almost 16 hours; we were 10 minutes away from a cesarean section. The doctors turned my daughter twice in the pelvis, and during the second rotation, they caused a bump that they assured me would resolve on its own. To deliver her, they used a vacuum extractor. They provided her with routine care but decided to call a pediatrician for verification. We were not sure exactly why, but they prescribed my daughter some Doliprane to take during my three-day stay in the maternity ward. During this time, she felt cold, had a yellowish complexion without jaundice, one eye was squinting, and an ear did not perceive sounds well. I was assured that all of this was not serious and we needed to wait before doing further tests at a general practitioner’s visit.

The Day Everything Changed

Fifteen days later, I reported to the PMI that my daughter always held her head slightly tilted to one side. I thought she had torticollis. The person responded that it was nothing and just needed proper positioning, which I was already doing. In the following weeks, she seemed comfortable only in a certain position in her baby swing with her head tilted to the side. Otherwise, we experienced unexplained crying that we could calm with rocking and cuddles. One day during a doctor’s visit, I mentioned that my daughter cried for no reason and that giving her Doliprane calmed her down. No one was overly concerned and advised me to continue giving it to her for 15 days.

On July 1st, 2018, my daughter had her first fever, even when teething she never had any before. Since it was a Sunday, I waited until the next day to take her to the doctor. He indicated that there were many childhood illnesses and we would probably get one of them. He also prescribed a urine test, but it is very difficult to obtain one from a baby who is almost six months old. The following day, the fever was nearly gone, but she refused to eat or drink normally. I did not insist further.

The next Wednesday, the fever returned, but did not exceed 38.5°C. On Thursday morning, when she woke up, I saw in her eyes a plea for help, a whimper. I immediately contacted the doctor who prescribed blood tests that revealed anemia and an infection. We then admitted her to the children’s hospital.

Upon arrival, she was examined, undressed, and rehydrated with liquid formula from a bottle, but they could not determine what was wrong. They decided to rehydrate her intravenously, but her vessels were so fragile that they had to give her an IV in her head. If only we had known then that she already had blood in the brain. An ultrasound of the abdomen to see where her blood was flowing did not reveal anything. Then, they performed a lumbar puncture thinking it might be leukemia, but the machine was broken and we would have the results the following Monday.

The fever returned. On Friday, she was simply given a rehydrating solution while waiting for a possible blood transfusion to raise her red blood cell count. The night from Friday to Saturday was very restless, but my daughter seemed slightly more alert. I informed the nurse that I found her staring into space a bit. She simply replied that the fever could make her a little agitated.

However, in the late morning, everything happened quickly: they decided to inject iron into her and about an hour later, she began vomiting forcefully as never before. The medical staff came to help change her, but about an hour and a half later, she had a seizure. At that moment, everyone panicked: my daughter’s gaze was fading before my eyes; they administered medication to stop the seizure. We rushed for a scan and from there on, all looks changed.

When the Diagnosis Was Made

Subdural Hematoma + Retinal Hemorrhage + Cerebral Ischemia

We lost two days of diagnosis due to medical misdirection between our admission to the hospital on Thursday and the scan performed after my daughter’s epileptic crisis on Saturday afternoon. I understood what was happening when the neurosurgeon came to see me, asking if my daughter had fallen, which I categorically denied. When she suggested that someone might have hurt her, I also refuted it. Her curt response left me perplexed: there was indeed someone who had hurt her. My husband and I did not understand the nightmare ahead of us. We did not know whether our daughter would survive the operation or what severe side effects we were already suspected of causing due to abuse. I am convinced that the difficulties during my childbirth, the serosanguineous bump that took more than 15 days to disappear instead of 7, and various symptoms like a yellowish complexion, below-normal temperature, one eye squinting, and poor hearing in one ear might have been precursors to what was about to happen. In the following months, I always had this feeling that something was not right. Her inexplicable crying, uncomfortable positions in our arms… I alerted our family doctor several times.

Inside the Judicial Machine

I was held for 36 hours with my husband. I spent 18 months in a mother’s center, with mediated visits for both of us. Then, I lived with my parents and my daughter for 14 months before we could return home. I had three different social workers from child welfare services (ASE). The family educators were an incredible support, offering invaluable listening and assistance; without them, it would have been much harder to endure a closed center’s daily life. The criminal trial ended early this year after 6.5 years of proceedings. My husband was sentenced to two years with probation because even without proof, he was the ideal suspect given that he had her crying at night when I was at work.

Living Under Suspicion

We celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary this year. We have always supported each other. This nightmare has bonded us more than ever. I gathered every minute of Amélie’s fever days; exactly seven days passed between the start of the fever and her epileptic crisis, far from what the High Authority for Health (HAS) says happens instantly or up to 48 hours before a child has an episode. She was hospitalized when it happened. My husband and I have been psychologically followed to cope with the unbearable. Financially, we managed as best we could, but the money spent defending ourselves against something that never happened will never return since someone was found guilty by justice.

Our lives were forever changed from July 7, 2018; there is a before and after. It’s a personal reconstruction every day. You find yourself in an endless pit wondering when it all will end. Spending a night in a cell like murderers without ever having had a police report… Unthinkable… We continue to move forward but do not forget everything our judicial system has put us through. It humiliated and devalued us, stripping us of our moral values and making us doubt the love we gave our daughter since her birth by saying we were bad parents.

Today, we are left with a bitter taste. After extensive research to prove our innocence, it becomes clear that the initial medical system is completely flawed. Everything is based on knowledge now devoid of common sense; only in France do they still believe in a diagnosis disputed by other countries. My daughter has no sequelae today; her intellectual, physical, and emotional abilities are perfect despite her cerebral ischemia having left supposed consequences.

We try to live with all this today; it’s part of my daughter’s history, ingrained within her. Currently, I still have no answer on how the subdural hematoma occurred. We also never knew where the infection in her blood upon arrival at the hospital came from. This is certainly our greatest regret, not finding answers. Nonetheless, every day when I see my daughter’s smile and her flourishing as a normal little girl, we realize it’s worth fighting for the truth.

For consistency across testimonies, this text may have been slightly edited or translated by artificial intelligence. If you notice any error or inconsistency, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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