Drama in the south of France: man dies in car because emergency department was understaffed

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A German tourist waited in vain for two hours at a hospital in southern France because the emergency room was understaffed and later died in his car in a parking lot. “After his death, an internal investigation was launched into the circumstances of his admission,” Matthieu Blanc, deputy head of the Intercommunal Hospital Center of Fréjus and Saint-Raphaël, said on Tuesday.

The hospital’s emergency department is currently limited because one of the doctors has been absent for several weeks, he explains. The patient was received by a nurse at seven o’clock and left at nine o’clock.

Body discovered in parking lot

According to information from the newspaper “Var Matin”, the man was not treated at the emergency room in Saint-Tropez last Thursday because it was reserved at the time for patients who were in danger of life. The staff told him to wait until ten o’clock, but he then left the hospital early.

Police eventually found the man in a car in the parking lot of a nearby shopping center. A doctor has determined a natural cause of death. The judiciary is not involved in the case.

The German embassy in Paris confirmed the death of a German in Gassin, southern France, on Tuesday, but did not comment on the circumstances of the death.

The emergency department in Saint-Tropez has only operated to a limited extent ten times since the beginning of the summer, reports “Var Matin”. In France, emergency departments have been in crisis for a long time. According to a union, 163 emergency services nationwide were at least partially closed this summer due to a lack of staff. In total, more than half of the departments were affected, both in rural areas and in major cities. (AFP/bab)

Source: Blick