caregivers little implicated since the start of the pandemic

While the pandemic linked to Covid-19 has deeply disrupted the healthcare system and made the hospital one of the places of contamination by the virus, very few doctors have, to date, seen their responsibility questioned by victims. failures or by their relatives.

The MACSF (French health insurance mutual), the leading insurer for health professionals, published a report on Tuesday, September 28 “Which surprised us and it is a good surprise: we recorded few declarations in connection with the health crisis or following the increasing use of new practices such as teleconsultation”, recognizes Nicolas Gombault, the deputy managing director of the mutual. While adding that“There may be a delay effect in complaints”.

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The mutual, which says it insures two-thirds of liberal doctors and nearly half of hospital doctors in France in professional liability, has identified the opening of around forty cases involving caregivers, directly linked to the health crisis. These claims concern loss of opportunity linked to the deprogramming of medical procedures or surgical procedures – for example colonoscopies and colposcopies canceled or postponed, leading to the late discovery of cancer. Other files relate to cases of contamination by the virus in nursing homes (coordinating doctors have been implicated following several deaths of patients) or in town offices.

Complaints about teleconsultation

About ten declarations relate to the care provided – most often the refusal of a transfer to intensive care unit because of the patient’s age. A dozen others were deposited following a vaccination against Covid-19.

Finally, several complaints concern teleconsultation, including exponential growth (19 million acts reimbursed in 2020, against 400,000 per month before the pandemic) “Was sometimes exercised in degraded mode”, notes the mutual. This cites the case of a 40-year-old diabetic patient who died from a diabetic coma seven days after a teleconsultation for an oral yeast infection, which had only given rise to the prescription of symptomatic treatment.

A criminal complaint has been filed for manslaughter. In another case, which gave rise to a civil summons, a 55-year-old patient who was positive for Covid-19, suffering from fever and then vomiting, died of peritonitis. Two successive teleconsultations had not resulted in his hospitalization.

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The MACSF has since sent a list of advice to its members, with in mind that of “Know how to quickly end a teleconsultation, when a clinical examination is necessary”.

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