Coronavirus: those victims who sue the state in court

On March 16, the day before the confinement, Jeanine (the first name was changed) presented symptoms of the Covid. At 79, this "survivor" who has conquered cancer three times and is going through a new relapse contracted the disease "the week before, a priori at bridge", says her daughter Béatrice (the first name has been changed) . The latter is not fooling against the State, which, according to it, asked the French population far too late to stay at home.

Jeanine has recovered from coronavirus but she is no longer the same. "She was a lover of life, flirtatious, I talk about it in the past because now, if you saw pictures before and after, there is something to turn your stomach," describes Beatrice. Weakened by her fight against the new virus, Jeanine had to do without chemotherapy for almost two months ... Mother and daughter alike are anxiously awaiting the next exams. "If the cancer has progressed ..." she interrupts.

Beatrice, like 42 other victims and those close to the Covid dead, have brought a legal action against the state. This is also the case of Pierre (the first name has been changed) , a 39-year-old caregiver, who "caught the virus" in the hospital and has only one fear: having "been a vector for [s] es particularly vulnerable patients, for having pushed them towards the exit ”. There is also Didier (the first name has been changed) who does not understand why his father's doctor, who died of the virus, failed to get him a test. Or Julie, made furious because she contaminated her son and her companion for lack of adapted care…

“It is deficiencies and poor management of the disease that motivate action”

"This is an administrative action, it is not a question of pillaging such and such a minister, but first of all obtaining victim status for our clients and claiming compensation in court it is necessary ”, details MeLoris Palumbo. “At the same time, we are calling on the authorities. The creation of a compensation fund for victims on the model of what exists for asbestos in particular would be an intelligence response, ”adds Me Benjamin Abraham Fellous.

How to hold the State responsible for a global pandemic? "It is the deficiencies and poor management of the disease that motivate the action," replied Mr. Palumbo. The victims engaged in this action consider that the State has delayed too long in confining the population, has not taken the measures to protect or to allow a massive screening.

"If nothing had been known about this virus, I would have resigned myself to fatality but that was not the case. Even Agnes Buzyn admitted having warned the Prime Minister in January. If the government had taken action, I would have prevented my mother from going to bridge, ”recalls Béatrice, who lives in the same building as her mother. On Pierre's side, the lack of protection does not pass: "Everyone did according to their sauce, we did not have the means to protect caregivers and fragile people", he testifies.

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"Many of our customers consider that the State supports companies that are collateral victims of the Covid, but not the real victims", points out Me Benjamin Fellous. Pierre, the young caregiver, undertakes this action to "claim a form of recognition" for the dead, those who have suffered a serious form but also all those who have allowed the State "to operate in safe mode, delivery men from Darty to the surgeons. "