A "law of silence", an omerta. Me Fabien Arakelian does not mince words when talking about the La Riviera nursing home in Mougins, in the Alpes-Maritimes, where 36 out of 109 residents have died as a result of coronavirus. Officially seized by four families who lost a loved one there, the criminal lawyer filed Friday on their behalf a complaint against X for manslaughter, failure to assist persons in danger and putting others in danger.
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"Funeral Service SMS" to learn of his father's death
"The families are in the unexplained, they had no information on the causes of death," he said at the microphone of the "Big Evening Newspaper" of Europe 1 Saturday. "They say it's the Covid-19, and get by! And it goes even further, I defend a family who learned of his father's death by an SMS from the funeral directors who asked for a copy of the card. identity of the deceased! " But beyond "psychological and moral issues", Mr. Fabien Arakelian sees in the management of this Ehpad of the Korian group "real legal difficulties".
"There is a law of silence, a virtual impossibility for families to get news, but also behavior which will, in my opinion, receive a legal qualification", he said while a preliminary investigation has been opened. While the first death of a patient with Covid-19 in this establishment dates from March 15, systematic screening did not take place before April 4 for staff and "the 6 for residents", recalls the lawyer.
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"A specialized establishment located a few kilometers from this establishment offered her help, but she was refused by the nursing home," he said. Without forgetting that the complaint mentions a setting up in the establishment of three watertight sectors separating the patients from the suspect cases and the healthy ones “only from Thursday April 9th”.
Malfunctions in several Ehpad?
"The dysfunctions" in the Mougins nursing home are they indicative of a larger problem? Yes, according to Me Fabien Arakelian who claims to receive "more and more emails, calls from people whose relatives have died in Ehpad, often those of the Korian group, and who note the same faults." Of the 300 establishments it owns in France, the European leader in retirement homes concentrates "356 deaths", according to the figure given by the general manager of Korian, Sophie Boissard, on RTL, Friday.
A figure which certainly represents only a small percentage of the 4,889 deaths recorded in social and social-medical establishments on the territory on April 11, but which makes me say to Fabien Arakelian "that we will have to look seriously at the actions of each other ". "There have been malfunctions, we all know it, but the time is right." And to recall: "The health crisis does not exempt from criminal responsibility."