This is the third death since December for patients waiting for a hospital bed in this establishment.
“It’s inhuman, we are in a disaster situation every day“, warns the head of emergencies at the Grenoble University Hospital, Marc Blancher, guest of France Blue Isere this Wednesday morning, after the death of a 91-year-old man last Wednesday in the emergency room, after three days of waiting.
This is the third death since December for patients waiting for a hospital bed in this establishment. The first time was last December: a 47-year-old woman was found dead in the emergency room toilets, she had been waiting for a psychiatric bed for three days. In the following weeks, another patient had lost his life in the service.
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Hospitalized for a simple state of acute confusion related to his age
The old man suffered from a simple state of acute confusion, related to his age. But he remained lying in the emergency room for three days, for lack of space in the geriatrics department. He died on Wednesday April 12, after spending three days waiting for a hospital bed.
The nonagenarian died without his family being able to say goodbye to him since visits from relatives are no longer accepted in the emergency room, since the Covid. “Certain populations are no longer received in care centers, such as psychiatric or geriatric cases“and families are no longer welcomed since the Covid, because”the activity has become too important“, regrets Marc Blancher. “Whether the end of life arrives at the hospital or in the emergency room, it is frequent, and it is very accompanied in a benevolent way with the family. But when it happens in a way, we will say unexpectedly, in a corridor, in a box, when the family is not there, it is a tragedy for the person, but also for the teams.
A complaint for “endangering the health of others”
The unions denounce, once again, the lack of means and personnel. The CHU unions have been mobilized since last summer to denounce this situation. For example, they went on an indefinite strike, demonstrations, letters to the prefect, the mayor of Grenoble or even the Regional Health Agency. “No answer, they sayhas not made it possible to improve the conditions of access to care in the Grenoble conurbation.“
A few days before this new death, the unions filed a report with the public prosecutor for “endangering the health of others”. “There is a shortage of 120 nurses and around 40 caregivers“, estimates Sara Fernandez, secretary general of the CGT at the CHU of Grenoble, at the microphone of France Blue Isere. The unions consider in particular that “the closure of the Voiron emergency room and the mutualist clinic at night leads to a degraded mode of care for patients in Sud-Isère“, and point to the closure of 200 beds at the CHU.
