| Political Heat |
25 August 2003
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France's Surgeon-General Quits -- 10,000 Dead from Heatwave
Lucien Abenhaim, France's surgeon-general, quit last week, taking the blame for the estimated 10,000 heat related deaths in the country since the weather warmed up. Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei publicly accused Mr. Abenhaim's staff of failing to "sound the alarm." Mr. Mattei is, perhaps, looking for political cover, but he is most definitely being unfair. People died not because the government failed to act, but rather because most modern society's are fragmented and because the temperatures soared.
According to the BBC's translation, Mr. Abenhaim's explanation is far more eloquent in stating the facts than anything journalists could devise, "The fact that people live alone and that we leave them alone, the fact that the elderly live in retirement homes which do not have air conditioning, the fact that the hospital system is certainly extremely stretched, for several reasons..." caused the deaths.
As people in New York, Detroit and Cleveland learned when their lights went out, in extraordinary circumstances, there are no immediate cures. France, and the rest of Europe, have broiled this summer -- even dreary English weather gave way to temperatures above 90 Fahrenheit. That puts the elder at risk, and if no one is checking up on them, and if there are no beds for those who need hospitalization, deaths will rise, regardless of whether Mr. Abenhaim's alert on the 10th came too late.
Air conditioning can be installed, measures taken to make sure people aren't left alone if they are at risk, hospital capacity can be expanded. But it can't be done right this minute. It should have been done months or years ago, but then, no one was expecting the heat to be as bad as it was. No one will be able to say that next time. Mr. Abenhaim quit to take the blame for this time around, but if it does happen again, Mr. Mattei or his successor will be in the hot seat. To say nothing of President Chirac, who continued his vacation in Canada while this went on.
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