Hearing on how French nursing homes handled virus

A Paris court is holding a hearing Wednesday in a class-action effort to hold French health authorities and companies accountable after thousands of people with the coronavirus died in nursing homes, and families were locked out and left in the dark about what was happening to their isolated loved ones.

The hearing is a first step in what is likely to be a years-long legal marathon.

Families hope it shines light on what went wrong last year as the virus devastated France's oldest generation and deprived their children and grandchildren of a chance to help, or to say goodbye.

"I want to know how many masks we had, why it wasn't mandatory in order to protect the residents but also the staff" said plaintiff Sabrina Deliry, who has mobilized families around France since her mother's Paris nursing home was first locked down a year ago.

The hearing Wednesday involves a special measure to demand access to documents or other material involving decisions at nursing homes. It is among many legal efforts around mismanagement of the pandemic working through the French justice system.

Others include manslaughter charges, or target top government ministers, but this could be one of the most far-reaching.

"We have many concrete questions. They are based on individual cases and we are trying to trace the chain of responsibilities" said Christophe Leguevaques, a lawyer representing families.

It targets several nursing homes, the national health agency DGS, the Paris public hospital authority and others. Plaintiffs include family members of nursing home residents, doctors and associations.

Their complaint focuses on multiple issues at homes for the elderly and disabled during the first half of 2020: mask shortages for residents and staff; testing shortages; the use of a powerful sedative called Rivotril on some residents while homes were locked down; and opaque decisions on which residents received hospital treatment for the virus and which were left to suffer or die in their care homes.

The national health agency, the Paris hospital authority and two of the nursing homes named did not respond to requests for comment ahead of the hearing.

Official figures show that nearly 25,000 people with the virus have died in French nursing homes out of more than 87,000 lives lost nationwide - a death toll still climbing by hundreds every day.

But thousands of other French nursing home residents who contracted COVID-19 died after being hospitalized, and studies suggest care home residents make up as many as half of France's overall virus victims. That is among the highest proportions worldwide.