The German Foundation for Patient Protection demands that heat be noted as the cause of death on death certificates. “The consequences of climate change must finally be given a face,” said board member Eugen Brysch to the Rheinische Post. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) calculates the number of heat deaths using statistical model calculations and artificial intelligence - no one knows the exact numbers.
In addition to heat as a cause of death, "it must be recorded whether the heat death occurred in the hospital, nursing home or at home," said Brysch. Only in this way would “the consequences of a government that is unprepared for climate change be ruthlessly revealed.”
Excess mortality as the basis for RKI calculations
Heat itself rarely causes immediate death. It is often a combination of high temperatures and pre-existing illnesses that leads to death. This is one of the reasons why heat is not yet listed as the cause of death on the death certificate and does not appear in the statistics.
The extent of heat-related deaths is calculated by the RKI by comparing the number of deaths in summer weeks with and without heat. This results in so-called excess mortality - that is, more people die in a certain period of time than would normally be expected. The RKI recently spoke of 12,500 heat deaths this year.
The medical director of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), Uwe Janssens, also considers the RKI estimate to be too low. “There are certainly several thousand more deaths,” the intensive care doctor told the newspapers of the Funke media group. Many cases are not recorded as heat-related because death certificates indicate organ failure. He therefore assumes that the RKI numbers “do not reflect the entire drama”.
Older people who live alone and have previous illnesses are particularly at risk. Janssens called for a binding national heat protection plan and more money for heat protection in hospitals. In addition, more neighborhood help, psychosocial support and networks are needed to reach people at risk early during heat waves.
Ver.di calls for more protection in care facilities
According to a newspaper report, temperatures in many nursing homes have recently risen to extremely high levels. A survey by the ver.di union among 321 nursing staff and other employees of care facilities showed that in some homes the temperature reached up to 45 degrees Celsius, the newspapers of the Funke media group reported.
According to the report, participants regularly recorded the temperature in their facilities from July 30 to August 10. 40.9 percent of employees reported at least one value above 30 degrees, 12.8 percent at least one above 35 degrees. These temperatures therefore have serious consequences for the residents of the facilities. In the survey, eleven percent of employees reported circulatory collapses among residents, ten percent reported cases of dehydration and nine percent reported deaths that were presumably related to the heat.
“The statements made by the employees sometimes show shocking conditions,” said Sylvia Bühler, a member of the ver.di federal board, to the Funke newspapers. The federal and state governments must therefore urgently launch an immediate program for heat protection and energy-efficient renovation of care facilities. “Adequate state financing of investments would also reduce the high personal contributions that overwhelm many residents.” In the past few days, the Association of Substitute Insurance Funds and the German Nursing Council have also called for better heat protection in hospitals and homes.
