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French footballer Jean-Pierre Adams dies after 39-year coma

Senegal-born French footballer Jean-Pierre Adams, who fell into a coma in 1982 when he was anaesthetised for a knee operation out of which he never re-emerged, and who has been cared for over 39 years by his wife Bernadette, has died at the age of 73.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

The former France defender Jean-Pierre Adams has died at the age of 73, almost 40 years after falling into a coma as a result of a medical error, his former clubs, Paris St-Germain and Nîmes, reports The Guardian.

In 1982, Adams was administered a near fatal dose of anaesthetic before a routine knee operation, which caused brain damage.

The Dakar-born Adams won 22 caps for Les Bleus in the 1970s, forming with Marius Tresor what was known as ‘the Black Guard’. He played for Nîmes from 1970-73 and for PSG from 1977-79 after joining from Nice.

Read more of this report published by The Guardian.

See more about the life of Jean-Pierre Adams in this 2014 biography published by The Blizzard and The Guardian.