How to compensate victims of coronavirus? After the stupor of the epidemic that has claimed the lives of nearly 30,000 people, the time comes for the reparation that the relatives of the victims and the sick intend to obtain. And for many, the prospect of legal action that will take years and may never be successful is a new test ahead.
Read also: MEPs want to exempt family caregivers who are victims of coronavirus from inheritance tax
To avoid them this obstacle course, two PS deputies, Christian Hutin and Régis Juanico tabled, Wednesday, a bill aiming to create a compensation fund for the victims of the coronavirus so that " the Nation does not forget anyone, nor the soldiers of the Republic, nor the first trench ”. For the two deputies, previous government announcements are not enough. In April, the Minister of Health had, in fact, indicated that the coronavirus would be recognized "automatically" as an occupational disease but only for nursing staff. "What about other professions?" wonders Christian Hutin.
Michel Parigot, president of the Coronavictimes association, goes further. If he militates like the two deputies for the creation of a compensation fund, this mathematic researcher at the CNRS who worked for the creation of the compensation fund for victims of asbestos (FIVA) wants to obtain compensation for all French people who suffered damage linked to the epidemic. “ 90% of the people who died from the coronavirus were over 65 years old so they were not infected at work. This explains why the background we ask for is not based on work, ”he explains to Le Figaro.
Which victims?
Therein lies the difficulty of such a device: who are the victims of the coronavirus? “ There may be direct victims, the sick and the beneficiaries, that is to say the relatives of a deceased person who claim compensation on behalf of this person. But also indirect victims who want to obtain compensation on the grounds that they were unable to accompany their loved one, to offer them a dignified burial, for example. But we can also imagine that people ask for compensation because they believe they were deprived of care after the postponement of their medical intervention as the hospitals were overloaded and therefore they endured suffering which could have stopped thanks to this intervention ” , explains Bénédicte Papin, lawyer specializing in health law and personal injury compensation.
However, if for some cases the causality is obvious, for others, it seems more difficult to prove. Not all covid patients have been tested and therefore cannot provide this proof attesting to the origin of their ailments. The same goes for the dead: " in the case of a very old person, how can they prove that they have died from the coronavirus?" Asks the lawyer.
This is the whole point of creating a compensation fund, concludes Michel Parigot: " So that people can assert their right to compensation quickly and easily without having to go through legal proceedings , because this compensation responds to an urgent need ”. Compensate all the victims, but especially all the personal damages, such as those esthetic and physical, but also economic which concern for example the financial losses when a victim can no longer work or the loss of an income in a hearth after a death.
How ?
Indemnify quickly, but how much? For Me Papin, the counterpart of the fund is that it compensates in a uniform manner without taking into account the specificity of each case. “ It will be based on a scale and a benchmark so that everyone is compensated the same. However, if we spent three weeks in intensive care or three months, we will not have the same consequences. It is a means of controlling the cost of compensation at the expense of full compensation for the damage, ”she regrets.
A cost which would amount, according to the bill, to a maximum of 500 million euros paid into the fund in order to grant compensation to " between 50 and 60,000 victims and beneficiaries ". " There will first be a financial contribution from the State in the name of national solidarity, since the government has already recognized its responsibility regarding the shortage of masks and tests, " says Christian Hutin. " We can also imagine a contribution from the ATMP branch (industrial accident and occupational disease) " as well as insurers, adds Michel Parigot for whom the most important part must however come from the State in recognition of his responsibility in the health crisis.
However, the government has not yet decided on such a device. If Christian Hutin and Régis Juanico want to believe that he will take on this responsibility, on the side of the Coronavictimes association, we regret the Prime Minister's silence despite their requests. " We asked to be received a month and a half ago, but we did not get a response or even an acknowledgment of receipt ." However, the mathematician says nourish "reasonable hope" that, carried by previous funds such as that intended for asbestos victims, the fund devoted to those of the coronavirus is born.