A complaint against X for manslaughter, failure to assist a person in danger and putting others in danger was filed Friday in Grasse by relatives of four residents who died in an Ehpad in Mougins, near Cannes, where the Covid-19 killed 36 people. A first complaint for endangering the lives of others had already been filed in early April by the family of a resident of Ehpad La Riviera, which belongs to the Korian group and had 109 residents before the health crisis.
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"Lack of information on the health status of their family members"
"These offenses caused the plaintiffs serious moral damage. Without information on the state of health of their family members, they were particularly shocked to learn of the considerable number of contaminations by the local press", underlines in the complaint filed Friday the lawyer of relatives, Mr. Fabien Arakelian.
"They learned of the tragic deaths of their parents, grandparents or aunt in aberrant and dramatic conditions, without being able to be by their side at the time of their painful end of life, and sometimes even without being able to pay them a last tribute" , he adds in this complaint consulted by AFP. The first death of a patient with Covid-19 in this establishment dates from March 15, 2020 and was reported the following day to the Regional Health Agency (ARS), recalls the complaint.
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"No transfer of residents tested negative has been considered"
During the following fifteen days, according to the complaint, "the elderly died in silence in the Mougins nursing home". Among them, Odette Noyer, 94, and Jacques Petitgirard, 87, whose daughter learned of the death by a text message from the undertaker. They are among the victims whose relatives have joined in this new complaint.
The complaint also stresses that the organization of the establishment into three watertight sectors to protect non-sick residents "was not effective until Thursday, April 9" and the systematic screening of residents did not start until 6 April, despite repeated calls from the mayor of Mougins, himself a doctor. "No transfer of residents tested negative has been envisaged," also deplores the Parisian lawyer.
160 deaths recorded in Ehpad in the region
According to Philippe de Mester, the director general of the ARS, 160 deaths have been recorded in the Paca region among people placed in nursing homes. In this region, 135 of the 580 establishments welcoming elderly or dependent people registered positive cases with Covid-19, he said on Friday during a press conference.