Families thwart COVID-19 patient transfers as third wave grips France reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Families thwart COVID-19 patient transfers as third wave grips France Reuters 5 hrs ago
By Caroline Pailliez
PARIS, April 9 (Reuters) - In March, emergency room doctor Frederic Adnet needed to move COVID-19 patients from his fast-filling Paris hospital to less hard-hit regions of France to free up beds, but unlike during the first wave last year the transfers weren t happening.
It was a scene playing out across the French capital and other virus hotspots, mainly because families were now refusing to give consent, interviews with Adnet and half a dozen other emergency room and ICU doctors reveal.
The inability to move patients deprived public health managers of a vital safety valve to manage pressure on the healthcare system, and contributed to President Emmanuel Macron having to order the third lockdown he had striven to avoid.