€100,000 bill for six years in coma

A MAN whose mother died after six years in a coma following a medical error has received a bill from the hospital for her time in care - for almost €100,000.

The 72-year-old woman died in January 2009 at the CHU hospital in Nancy.

She had been in a vegetative state since 2003 when she was accidentally given an overdose of anti-clotting medicine during a relatively straight-forward operation.

According to Ouest France, her son Denis Stoeckel is now taking legal action to contest the bill for €98,462.41 in unpaid care fees and interest.

Mr Stoeckel's lawyer said the anaesthetist had been handed a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €1,500 fine in June 2008, but the hospital itself had not admitted any responsibility for the accident.

Hospital director Philippe Vigouroux said he understood the man's situation but told the paper: "This is public money. I don't have the right to just give it away. It is due."