How many patients “forgotten” on stretchers, died in emergency departments? This figure could reach 150 in two months throughout France, according to the SAMU-Urgences de France union, whose former boss is none other than the current Minister of Health. In this extract from “Complément d’Enquête”, his successor responds to François Braun, who today describes these emergency workers as “agitators”.
In 2018, the case of a patient found dead on a stretcher, twelve hours after her admission to the emergency room, caused a scandal. An “unexpected death”, according to administrative terminology, which would not be isolated… Last December and January, “we have a whole litany of them that follow one another”, deplores Dr. Marc Noizet, president of the SAMU-Urgences de France (SUdF) union.
A patient “found in cardiac arrest on the stretcher” after staying there for fifteen hours; an 87-year-old man who could not be hospitalized for lack of space, “and found dead after ten hours on a stretcher, in the emergency room” ; yet another, he enumerates, “found in an emergency room, deceased; he had been there for thirty-six hours”…
“I think the figure, if we had the completeness, would be really chilling.”
Dr Marc Noizet, president of SAMU-Urgences de Francein “Further investigation”
These dramatic cases were reported to SUdF as part of the “No dead challenge”, a survey launched by the union with public hospitals to identify “unexpected deaths”. According to its results, 43 deaths of this type were declared over two months in 22 departments… but 79 departments did not communicate a figure. Dr Noizet estimates that he could reach, for the month of December 2022 alone, “at least” 100 to 150 throughout France.
When François Braun challenged the public authorities on the hospital crisis
These estimates are reported to the Minister of Health, François Braun – himself former president of SAMU-Urgences de France and initiator of a “No bed challenge” in 2018 to alert to the lack of emergency beds. “How can you do your job in circumstances where you have patients full of the corridors?” questioned the one who denounced at the time “the enormous violence of the system towards emergency medical staff”. How did he react?
“Our minister called us ‘agitators’, saying that we had no right to play with that. We don’t play, because it is we who bear the responsibility for the death of these patients . It’s a real problem.”
Dr. Marc Noizetin “Further investigation”
“When you have a patient who dies in a service that is completely saturated, because there are zero beds in the hospital and the patients continue to flow, everyone is aware of the situation, emphasizes the doctor. The director of the establishment is aware of the situation, the director of the ARS (Regional Health Agency) is aware that there is congestion in this service, the minister is aware that the emergency services are cluttered, bogged down in undue activity.”
Extract of “When emergencies no longer respond!“, a document to see in “Complementary investigation” on the 1st June 2023.
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