Revealed earlier this week by 20 minutes, the case of the negative Covid-19 tests sent without any analysis will finally be judged on December 9 in Nice. The correctional hearing scheduled for Monday was adjourned at the request of one of the three defendants, former managers of laboratories from the Eurofins Labazur network prosecuted in particular for endangering others, the company said on Tuesday. . She also confirms that she “appealed as a civil party”.
In a press release, she assures “strongly condemn […] these criminal individual actions” and specifies that “the patients concerned were at the time individually contacted according to a protocol established in consultation with the Regional Health Agency”. In total, the investigators noted 497 negative screening results for which the samples were not processed, between September 1 and October 8, 2020 in Nice, Peymeinade and also Montauroux, in the Var.
The defendants were dismissed or resigned
In this batch of patients, some were positive for the new coronavirus without being alerted and may have contributed to spreading the disease. Among the three officials implicated, also prosecuted for forgery, use of forgery and fraud, one had been “immediately dismissed from his duties” and the other two had quickly resigned, according to Eurofins Labazur.
In addition to a complaint filed with the public prosecutor, the network of laboratories and some of its biologists had also seized the National Order of Pharmacists. The organization “has already sentenced the main biologist accused to a permanent ban on practicing pharmacy”, a decision “which he appealed”, further specifies the company.
At the time, they had to manage “a colossal flow of patients”
Solicited by 20 minutes, Me Romain Guerinot, defense lawyer, explains that the labs were then “facing a colossal flow of patients, pressure and lack of means”. The alleged facts would, according to him, be concentrated “Only over two days”. At the time, the Paca Regional Health Agency spoke of “an embolization of medical biology laboratories, extending the time for appointments and results reports”.
But nothing to indulge in such acts, according to the company Eurofins Labazur. She hopes, she says, that “these facts do not overshadow the professionalism and total commitment of her collaborators and laboratory managers”.
The Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie also brought civil action. According to Nice morningthe damage would be around 25,000 euros.