Today in France, “
there are people who die in conditions that should not exist
”.
Marc Noizet, president of SAMU-Urgence France, made this observation at the end of December after his union counted the number of people who died “
unexpectedly
” in the emergency room.
And the figure is alarming: from December 1 to 31, 2022, 31 people would have died alone on stretchers in the emergency room corridors, or because an SMUR could not be engaged quickly enough, learns the successor of François Braun at
Figaro.
"
If we were exhaustive, we could imagine that there are many more
," he says.
Faced with the deterioration of the emergency department, this unprecedented count was necessary, explains Marc Noizet: “
We had already known deaths in the corridors, but never like this.
The situation has become unsafe for caregivers and patients
.
The union therefore made an online form available in November, which takes the form of a questionnaire: the caregiver reports the situation, tells what happened, leaves his name and email, and can ask to be called back.
Read alsoGironde: night emergencies at the Bordeaux Rive Droite Polyclinic closed, due to lack of staff
However, these deaths are not “
unexpected
” because these people were not going to die, but because they should not have died in such circumstances, specifies the doctor:
“The objective is not to seek The cause of death.
We are alerting to these brutal deaths in emergency corridors when nothing foreshadowed.
For us, this is a serious dysfunction.
It is a danger
”.
Older profiles
Of the 31 situations reported, the profile of the deceased is quite old: “
He is around 75 years old
”
.
"
We have people aged 92, 81, 76, 61, 74...
", details Marc Noizet, consulting his file.
He then takes the example of an elderly person, who arrived in a university hospital after a bad fall.
“
She had no apparent injury, there was no concern about her.
Four hours later, she was fine.
Eight hours later, the team found her dead on her stretcher in a hallway.
Read alsoCovid-19, flu, bronchiolitis ... In the Arcachon emergency room, "we are overwhelmed"
For a death to be counted in this list, it must correspond to one of these two categories:
The patient died on a stretcher in the emergency room while awaiting treatment, and his death was unexpected.
The patient died pre-hospital, the appropriate means not having been able to be engaged quickly enough: “
For example, we are not able to trigger an SMUR quickly enough and the victim dies
”.
The woman who died in Saint-Cyr of a heart attack after being refused emergency, does not necessarily fall into this category.
"
We don't know the circumstances yet.
Many questions are unanswered, an investigation must answer them.
For me, as it is, it does not meet our definition
, ”says the emergency doctor.
Two to three days on a stretcher
His union decided to launch this count with the aim of alerting public opinion and politicians "
to the current dangerousness
" of the situation and "
showing that the system is out of breath
".
Patients can wait several hours or even days on a stretcher before being hospitalized.
It was possible to observe it recently in an AFP report at the Strasbourg University Hospital, on December 29.
Due to working conditions, lack of resources and the triple epidemic (Covid-19, bronchiolitis and flu), some patients have no choice but to wait two or three days on stretchers, reports one of the nurses on site.
There is a taboo behind these deaths.
Marc Noizet, president of SAMU-Urgence France
If some deaths are publicized in the press, most of them remain concealed.
This can be explained by two reasons, according to Marc Noizet.
First, because caregivers feel guilty.
“
We face death every day.
We are caregivers.
But when an unexpected death happens in a service, our teams necessarily carry a form of guilt
, ”explains the emergency doctor.
Then, because they don't want to take “
responsibility for a global health dysfunction
”.
Responsibility is a “
responsibility of the system, it must be collective and not individual
,” argues Dr. Noizet.
But there is a taboo behind these deaths
.
One last point is important: “
The medico-legal responsibility of the carer
”, continues Marc Noizet.
If the family of one of these victims were to turn against the hospital, "
responsibility would fall to the doctor who was present that day
"
,
which could open "
legal proceedings against him
"
.
And to deplore: “
Nobody will say that it is a general dysfunction of the health system.
He should explain that he has a ward with 100 patients that can only accommodate 50. But I'm not sure that's taken into consideration.
»
Today, the president of the union calls for a “
more secure system
”.
“
The conditions in which we are currently working are appalling for caregivers but especially for patients.
For him, “
the equation is simple: how many beds do you have in a hospital, how many staff for your beds, how do you manage your beds.
It's only flow management.
We must refocus the availability of the healthcare offer that exists today around the urgent needs of the population.
Contacted by
Le Figaro
, the Ministry of Health did not respond to our requests.