Due to a lack of doctors, signing a death certificate can sometimes take a long time. Delays which make the situation even more difficult for the relatives of the deceased and for elected officials.
One Monday afternoon in October, Éric Venuat, mayor of Cossaye, was informed by the firefighters that one of his constituents had died. He goes there. “They contacted the 15th for a doctor to come and observe the death, except that no one was available. They set out to find one,” he says.
The family of the deceased arrives. Two hours pass. “The Samu called back to inform us that a doctor would come at 8 p.m. No one was to enter the house until a doctor had come. »
“They don’t know the territory”
He continues: “This is an unbearable disrespect towards the bereaved family, forced to wait indefinitely. I called back so that we could find a quicker solution, to send an emergency doctor from Decize. It would have taken barely ten minutes. But they don't know the territory. The centralization of 15 in Dijon does not allow us to know the structure of the land. I was told that it was not possible, in case there was an absolute emergency… I can understand that but, in an emergency, he could have left immediately. We would have saved time. »
As part of an experiment, nurses can now write death certificates
On his own, he decides to contact other doctors. In vain. The family began calling doctors in turn, including the deceased's attending physician, who was on vacation that day. It is he who will declare the death, around 5 p.m.
“I found myself in a deplorable situation. A death is not an absolute emergency, but there is a family behind it. If a mayor is obliged to watch over a deceased person for hours, making the family wait outside… It's complicated. It's part of my job as mayor, but we can't be on the ground all the time to compensate for a medical shortage! », he gets excited.
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A situation that David Boucher, at CFDT Santé, also deplores: “It also happens to us at the hospital. It happened that a Smur was triggered to report a death in a nursing home of the establishment. To register a death, you have to mobilize doctors that you don't have. »
He elaborates: “The government wanted to compensate for this lack of doctors by putting it on nurses. Training is needed and they need to be willing. I don't know of any volunteers to do this in a hospital setting. It takes time, and that time is already dedicated. There is a shortage of nurses, almost 50 at the Nevers agglomeration hospital center (Chan). »
Residents of 23 municipalities in Nièvre are prohibited from falling ill
To denounce the situation, Éric Venuat is thinking of issuing an order, based on the model of that of Justine Guyot, in Decize. “We no longer have the right to get sick, we no longer have the right to die either! »
Élisa Especially
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