Man died due to lack of care beds

A 57-YEAR-OLD man died because ambulance crews could not find an intensive care place in the whole of Ile-de-France.

The Samu (ambulance) team searched in vain for a place in one of 27 hospitals, for the heart attack victim.

Ambulance crews attended the man at his home in Massy, a southern suburb of Paris at about midnight on Saturday.

After failing to find an intensive care place they took him to the accident and emergency department at Longjumeau, but the hospital lacked specialist equipment for carrying out a coronary angiogram – a scan of arteries connected to the heart. He was finally admitted to the Lariboisière hospital at 6am, but died as he arrived.

Amuf, the accident and emergency workers union, raised the alarm, saying the incident showed “patients’ safety is no longer ensured in Ile-de-France during the holiday season.”

The union’s leader, Bruno Fagganielli, said many intensive care beds were closed during the Christmas period because the hospitals lack money to replace staff who are on holiday.

Photo: Pasc Lem