It is a cry of alarm, of revolt against injustice, the lack of humanity and the odious rules against which Stéphanie Bataille says she has come up against.
And which, for her, led to the death of her father.
Entered the Salpêtrière hospital (Paris, 13th) in December, the actor Etienne Draber contracted the Covid-19 there.
He died there on January 11 at the age of 81, long separated from his family.
A far from isolated case.
After an open letter to President Macron, Olivier Véran and Martin Hirsch (the boss of Public Assistance-Hospitals of Paris, AP-HP), the actress and director of the Antoine Theater filed a complaint against X for non-assistance to person in danger and manslaughter.
And launched a petition calling for families to see their patients.
This Sunday, she had collected nearly 12,700 signatures.
What happened to your father?
STÉPHANIE BATTLE.
He had heart surgery on December 14, he had had a test before and was negative.
The operation is a success.
He was happy, began to eat again.
But from the 17th, he had dry lips, very thirsty, very bad legs ...
Doctors do not immediately think of Covid.
No.
I spoke about it, but I was told that he had a negative test on the 13th. On the 19th, they thought of a stroke but the CT scan and MRI showed nothing.
On the 20th, he was on oxygen.
As if we didn't know that the coronavirus was also attacking the lungs ... They will wait until the 24th to give it a test.
We will have the result on the 26th. Positive.
Etienne Draber, on the set of the TF1 TV movie “l'Ecole des passions”, in 1996. / SIPA
And you ?
We were asked to take the test on the 26th: my mother, my brother and I were negative.
I write an email to the cardiologist to tell him my surprise that we can catch the Covid in the hospital.
He said sorry, that they had twelve positive cases among the staff of the heart unit.
And that they can't test staff every day ...
What does your father say?
He told my brother that he would fight to the end, but to me, he slips me
you really have to get me out of there, otherwise you will only have the leftovers
.
On the 30th, he was transferred to a Covid unit.
We tell ourselves that he will finally receive appropriate care.
When I arrive, I am told that he is doing very badly, that he is in the middle of a cytokine storm.
I ask to see him, I am told,
no, you will see him at the last moment
”.
At the last moment ?
This is the new sentence.
It means when he's going to die.
While he entered the hospital to get better ... The doctors understand my dismay and ask me "the trusted number", the one to call when he is going to die.
You have to be armed ...
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And the next day, things are better ...
Yes, we are told he is out of the storm.
We ask to see him.
It's always no.
However, there are tablets in place, we are entitled to half an hour a day except on weekends.
Young people from the civil service bring him the tablet.
He is better, I have texts from the nurses who tell me:
He is fine, but he misses you
.
And so are we!
But we are still prevented from seeing it.
It is excruciating.
On January 3, he asks to be shaved, he gets dressed, goes to the chair.
And through the tablet tells us:
Get me out of here, I'm going to die
.
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But you still can't see it.
No, because it seems we could bring the virus ourselves… What a joke!
I wasn't going to run and snuggle up to my dad, although I would have loved it… I haven't kissed him since March 2020. And I will never kiss him again.
I insist on seeing it, I am told
No, at the last moment
… That is to say that we are in the process of making them die and they are aware of it.
The nurses, in tears, told us to try to do everything so that we see him because he was making a slip ...
A slip?
He didn't want to eat anymore.
Every day, we put words on the meals we prepared for him,
Daddy, go fight!
You will be out soon, you are the strongest!
He was looking at them but that's all.
He let himself die.
People let go because they feel abandoned.
Dying of grief, is that called sliding?
We saw our father cry for the first time.
We witnessed its degradation live, it was the real “Loft” of the world we are in.
Through a tablet, we saw this man leaving the earth.
VIDEO. At the heart of the intensive care unit of Bordeaux University Hospital
Then you in turn contract the Covid ...
On January 4th, I lose my taste and smell, yet I have had it before… My mother is also positive.
Not my brother, who is entitled to see him on the 8th because it is “the last moment”.
He is entitled to half an hour, no more.
On the 8th, he returned to cardiology.
On the 10th, we are told that he is very agitated.
I'm at the end of Covid, I'm going.
Through the door, I see him with his hands tied to prevent him from removing his oxygen mask that he couldn't stand.
He sees me, and asks me for help.
I beg for her to be washed, I say I can take care of it ...
And the next day is the end.
My brother arrived, they gave him morphine and my father left.
I wanted to bring clothes, but we were told that we would not see him again, that the people who died from Covid were buried naked in a cover on which we write Covid with a number.
We can't say goodbye to the face.
We present to you a closed coffin… It's robotization.
Tomorrow, we'll give you a little barcode saying this
is your daddy
… Are we going to accept that?
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Did you get a response to your open letter?
I saw Brigitte Macron for a long time with my brother and my mother.
She thought it was an isolated case, but no.
She told me that Emmanuel Macron had asked in April that visits be authorized.
It is true, but it is always at the will of the director of the hospital.
What is the purpose of your petition?
Let families be allowed to see patients, and not at the last moment!
Hospitals have become dying places, people are dying of grief.
Stéphanie Bataille demands "that there be justice, both for me, but also for all the families who have experienced this" ./ LP / Olivier Lejeune
Since then, you have received a lot of testimonials.
Thousands.
When I started talking people
thought She's crying for her daddy
.
But my father died as a martyr like thousands of people for a year.
Many relatives are in a state of bewilderment.
I will be the ambassador of all these people so that we open the hospitals and that we find humanity there.
Did you have any other contact with the authorities?
Apart from Brigitte Macron, no.
It's incredible that Véran didn't contact me.
But wake up!
My story is your story, it can happen to you.
You have also lodged a complaint against X for non-assistance to a person in danger and manslaughter.
What do you expect from justice?
This story must be judged, otherwise it's too easy.
There must be justice, both for me, but also for all the families who have experienced this.
It is not normal to leave like this.
I cannot have seen what I saw and be silent.
And do nothing.
The AP-HP says "to have followed the recommendations"
"Aware of the pain caused by the loss of a loved one, the AP-HP
(Editor's note: Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris)
wanted to bring", on January 29, in a press release, "factual answers" to the assertions by Stéphanie Bataille, indicating that her father had "declared the symptoms of Covid-19 during his hospitalization during which he received visits in his private room.
During the period in which he was hospitalized there, all the staff in contact with him tested negative ”, assures the AP-HP.
Etienne Draber was then transferred to another service, "within which visits are not authorized due to the profile of particularly fragile patients, with some exceptions", continues the institution which specifies that "was considered, in consultation with the family, that it was preferable that relatives, carriers of the Covid-19 do not visit [him].
And recall that it applies "national recommendations for limiting visits" to "protect patients and staff from the risk of contamination".
The AP-HP further indicates that "visits are still possible depending on the patient's state of health" and that this "may have been the case on several occasions for Stéphanie Bataille's father and in particular the day before his death ”.
The teams having warned the family, "a member of the family was able to see the patient before his death" and "Stéphanie Bataille was able to meditate with her late father in his room in the care service".
Regarding the complaint, "we have no additional elements to bring", we reacted this Sunday to the AP-HP.
