Will justice be able to engage any criminal responsibility in the series of deaths due to Covid-19 - 34 residents out of 109 since March 17 - which struck the establishment of accommodation for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) Riviera, in Mougins, on the Côte d'Azur?
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One of the families of these victims, who has filed a complaint against X for "endangering the lives of others" , seems to believe so. Me Fabien Arakelian, who defends his interests as well as that of another concerned family, even intends to go further. He finalizes another complaint, which he says he wants to send next week to the prosecutor's office in Grasse, adding the qualifications of manslaughter and non-assistance to people in danger.
"It's a real scandal, the management of this crisis is beyond comprehension," said the lawyer, pointing out the delay in setting up screening, the "law of silence" that would reign within the group Korian, manager of the establishment, and the doctrine of the regional health agency (ARS) which would prohibit "exfiltration" today residents not yet infected with the virus. "Everyone is passing the buck, justice will have to rule," warns Me Arakelian.
How to save residents
Implicated, the Korian group defends itself by indicating, through the voice of its spokesperson, to have scrupulously implemented the recommendations of the ARS in the event of a "grouped Covid" , that is to say the discovery of three cases of Covid-19 found in the same establishment.
"As of March 17, after the first death, we set up a" Covid symptomatic "floor in the Ehpad , " notes this spokesperson. "But after, it's true, the epidemic wave was very strong," he admits, adding: "Today, we are not on the legal field, we are in the time of action. What is important is how we save the residents. ”
Of the 75 survivors, 33 are positive for Covid-19, 23 are negative, the other 19 being declared "inconclusive"The ARS launched, in parallel with the investigation opened by the justice system, an inspection mission to verify, as Korian maintains, that the rules of confinement were indeed followed by the Ehpad La Riviera since the epidemic had made its first victims there. Earlier this week, the survivors of this health tsunami were all screened. Of the 75 survivors, 33 are positive for Covid-19, 23 are negative, the other 19 being declared "inconclusive" , according to Korian, that is to say "that they can suggest a suspicion of Covid without however be positive . "
New provisions must come into force no later than Friday in the establishment. According to the recommendations of the ARS, the residents were divided into three “waterproof” groups: the negative on one side, the symptomatic positive on the other, a third group mixing the asymptomatic positive and the inconclusive.
Fragile people
Should there have been massive screening earlier? This is not the doctrine of the ARS, which recommends, as soon as there are three proven cases, either to dedicate a sector of the residence to the sick, or, if this is not physically possible, to confine residents in their room. And if tests were finally carried out last Monday, it is only because, according to the ARS, of the large number of deaths observed.
Tests carried out on the staff themselves have also shown that out of 50 people working at La Riviera, 14 were positive. There too, should we have detected them earlier? Finally, should we today "exfiltrate" negative residents? These are fragile people who need an adapted environment, refutes, there too, the ARS, which considers it preferable to keep them on the spot.