According to her family, Patricia Urcel, 53, would have died of the coronavirus because the Samu did not want to take care of her. A complaint has been filed.
It is a drama that recalls others. Patricia Urcel, living in Hauts-de-Seine, died in September 2020 as a result of the coronavirus. Another victim of the health crisis. Except that here, the Samu is accused by the family of not having wanted to take care of her when she had severe symptoms, reports RTL. The two brothers of the victim and her son filed a complaint against X on Monday March 29, 2021 at the Nanterre court for “manslaughter”, “obstruction of care” and “non-assistance to person in danger”, “violence resulting in death without intention of giving it” and “neglect”.
“The members of this family are very bereaved. For them, it took time to make this journey, to realize that something abnormal had happened and that they owed this fight to Mrs. Urcel, declares to LCI lawyer for the Me Anaïs Mehiri family. It also took time to retrieve all the documents: the patient’s medical file, first of all, which is not very substantial, because she stayed very little time at the Bichat hospital, and the transcripts of the discussions. with Samu, essential in this sad affair “.
The succession of events
Patricia Urcel makes a first call to September 6, 2020 at 10:18 p.m. on September 15, in which she describes her fever and her throat burning.“There is no need for oxygen for tonight, you will not go to intensive care and you will not be intubated. There, there is no distress, we are especially not going to the emergency room”, his interlocutor then answers him, according to the transcript of the call shared by France Inter. The next day, his worried brother went to Patricia Urcel’s home with an oximeter and he indicated that “the device displayed 22% oxygen in the blood, whereas the norm should be between 98-100”. According to these data, he called the Samu on September 7, 2020. The doctor on the other end of the phone doubts the indications of the device. “At 22%, he told me that she would be dead and that is therefore the device that had a problem”, explains Emmanuel Urcel to France Inter. The specialist then speaks to Patricia Urcel and still no worrying sign according to him. For the brother, this answer is too much: “Are we going to wait until she can’t speak at all? Is that what you’re telling me?” If the annoyance is felt, it is because the sister’s state of health has deteriorated for the past seven days. On the evening of September 7, Patricia Urcel’s son once again contacted the Samu, his mother did not arrive “more to breathe”. The fiftieth year is the victim of cardio-respiratory arrest. Finally, she was taken care of by a Samu team and then admitted to Bichat hospital in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. But she died a few hours later.
Joined by France Inter, the AP-HP (Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris) ensures that “the regulating physicians took the necessary time to discuss with the patient and / or her relatives ” and, “on the second call”, the doctor has “eliminated immediate vital distress and did not find it necessary to send means to the patient’s home”. Me Anaïs Mehiri affirms that“It is not for the family to criticize the medical diagnosis, for the simple reason that it was not made. (…) The absence of this examination in a short time, and the late admission of Mrs. Patricia Urcel to a care establishment worsened her state of health and led to her death. “
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Other dramatic cases
The Coronavictimes association, which deplores a real problem of care on a national scale, filed at the end of July 2020 a collective complaint for “neglect”, bringing together relatives of 13 people who died from Covid-19. This case also echoes that of a woman who died due to an ectopic pregnancy on September 27, 2020 and who would have made 3 calls to the Samu. And how not to remember Naomi musenga, who had not been taken seriously by an operator of the Samu and died of a heart attack in the hospital shortly after?
Questioned at the time by our colleagues from 66 minutes, the employee had defended: “It is enough to always wear the hat for the system. We are under constant pressure. We work twelve hours in a row. These are working conditions which are difficult.” Between working conditions and access to healthcare to be reviewed, the debate is far from over.
Celine Peschard
Journalist who loves the versatility that his profession can offer. Specialized in the historical field, societal subjects and auteur films, against a background of electronic music. University course based on …