Blame shifts to families in heatwave deaths

Washington Times ^ | 9/01/03 | Kim Willsher, LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

[kattracks]

PARIS

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

At the end of last week, the white-coated and masked mortuary assistants at the refrigerated former food warehouse at the national market near Paris were down to their last 15 corpses and preparing to shut for good.

"Going Out of Business sale! Everything must GO!" :)

[freekitty]

Feeling guilty my #\$$.

[strela]

I was going to mention something about "Special on Cold Cuts TODAY!", but people are eating somewhere in the world.

[Welsh Rabbit]

Maybe this guy ought to move to France: http://www.theonion.com/onion3402/heatelderly.html

[bert]

Is that the government's fault?" asked Hubert Falco, the secretary of state for the elderly.

The answer to his problem with the unclaimed corpses is obvious.....

Soylent Green a socialist solution

[cake_crumb]

Feeling guilty?? Cut me a break. They'd have been back sooner, looking for their missing "loved ones".

The families are guilty of heineous neglect and a total lact of human compassion - the French have a tendency to be that way, it's a cultural thing. The government's to blame because of it's socialist healthcare and pro-gaia, anti-society energy policy. Let's not forget that a LOTTA deaths occurred in government run nursing homes. The press is just taking the heat off Chirac's silence and inaction.

[Drango]

Even the French hate the French.

[07055]

Many of the victims appear to have been left alone during July and August, when France virtually shuts down as families go on holiday.

So, now all of France shuts down for August *and* July?

Why not take off June too? Heck, why work at all?--just demand unlimited aid from the evil United States of America. After all, we already bailed them out twice in the last hundred years.

[rickmichaels]

Only a matter of time before les Frites put the blame on some undercover Jewish conspiracy.

[Exeter]

"We're all guilty," declared the front page of the popular daily newspaper Le Parisien, which added: "It is not up to the state to take care of our elderly..."

Then why do the French have a secretary of state for the elderly? Don't misunderstand me, I think Le Parisien is correct when they said caring for the elderly isn't the job of the government (See, even a blind pig finds a truffle every once in a while!), but what exactly is the reason for this job with its impressive title and no doubt equally impressive salary if not to concern himself and his subordinates with the welfare of the elderly?

[lelio]

"It is important to realize that there are many old people who are totally alone, with no family.

Really? There's a lot of 70+ year olds without any family members whatsoever? What on earth is happening in France?

Or do they mean "no family members that care to phone them once in a while"?

[lelio]

Only a matter of time before les Frites put the blame on some undercover Jewish conspiracy.

We're one step ahead of the French: a letter to the NY Times pondered if America / Bush did this to the French through global warming.

Its easy to blame someone else when your grandma dies I suppose.

[BlessedBeGod]

Concern about care for the elderly is also rising in Britain, where a prominent think tank has proposed that companies set up "granny creches" where employees can drop off their elderly relatives and know they are being looked after while they are at work.
The think tank Demos, whose ideas are believed to influence the thinking of Prime Minister Tony Blair, said elderly people would be cared for and entertained with talks, dancing or having manicures while they wait to be picked up.

Oh, swell.

[chaosagent]

Actually, it's pretty much all of Europe that shuts down, especially in August.

I'm helping coordinate a business conference in Houston, that focuses on The Netherlands. But all of our planning ground to a halt during August, because all the executives were on vacation and there was no one available to make a decision on things over there.

[randog]

Hey, wait a minute...I get it....

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!

[FITZ]

In the Netherlands they have euthanasia which saves a lot of money --- I wonder if there is more behind these deaths --- people don't normally die because temperatures hit 100 degrees --- they do all the time here and across the border they don't have much air conditioning but no one is dying for that reason. Look how much the French government saves by not having as many nursing home occupants.

[libstripper]

Much of this is a cop-out. Very large numbers of the elderly died in state-run nursing homes and hospitals, none of which had air conditioining. Indeed, "treatment" methods applied were so miniscule as to be obscene jokes. For example, spraying a victim's face with cool water when she needed to be covered with damp towels, was one of the methods. Keeping infirm old people cool during a heat wave so they don't die isn't rocket science--it's just simple huimanity and common sense, something the Fench seem sadly to lack.

[Servant of the Nine]

Feeling guilty?? Cut me a break. They'd have been back sooner, looking for their missing "loved ones".

The families are guilty of heineous neglect and a total lact of human compassion - the French have a tendency to be that way, it's a cultural thing.

The reason families are distraught is that they realize that they have just taught their children how to take care of them in their final years.
What goes around, comes around.

So9

[Servant of the Nine]

Even the French hate the French.

Does this mean Gray Davis is French?

So9