Paris (AFP)

Practitioner in a hospital in the Paris region, on the front line to treat the surge of coronavirus patients, an anesthesiologist-resuscitator delivers daily for AFP, on condition of anonymity, the summary of his day in the middle of a health crisis.

- Friday March 27 -

"There are deaths and there will be many in the days to come. It is very difficult. It scares us. But we prefer to remember the first patients who start to leave our service. Otherwise, we will not get there ...

Even today, new scenarios are being imagined to try to open more and more intensive care beds. There is talk of having to create 1,000 additional resuscitation beds in Ile-de-France. I do not see how it is possible, but if some imagined it, it must be doable.

Patients no longer have access to resuscitation, whereas a few weeks ago the question would not have arisen.

Fortunately, there are no criteria for screening patients. It is on a case by case basis. We analyze things and we try to be as "ethical" as possible.

We have no scientific data at the moment on which to base the reasoning, so we reflect with what we know on general data in intensive care. We have to deal with uncertainty.

Yesterday, I learned of the death of Julie, 16, the youngest victim of Covid-19 in France. His death is deeply shocking. No one can ever accept, in the medical community or in society, that a 16-year-old girl dies.

Unfortunately, these tragedies are also part of our daily lives. Covid-19 or not. Fortunately, this is not frequent. It is always a tragedy for families and also the healthcare teams who take care of it. It is the most unacceptable part of our work.

There are young patients in our resuscitation. We do our best, the maximum, day and night, to save them. There has been no change in our attitude following this tragedy. It's our job. We do it as well as we can ...

The teams remain united, for the moment anyway. Caregivers tire but if they work in the public hospital, with all the difficulties put in the spotlight in recent months, it is precisely because they are dedicated and ready to make personal and professional sacrifices. We must pay tribute to them.

The confinement has just been extended until April 15. Here we have no opinion on these matters. It is not our job. Most of us are not epidemiologists. We just want as few people as possible to be reached ...

I repeat: we are already in a catastrophic scenario. "

© 2020 AFP