The tenants of an apartment building in France endured the unbearable smell of a decomposing body due to the lack of an available doctor to certify the death.

In Villejuif, France, the residents of a social housing block were forced to endure the unbearable smell of a deceased neighbor, discovered on May 30, 2026, after her body had remained in the apartment for several days. The smell began to spread as early as the middle of the previous week, and the neighbors, initially believing it was garbage, noticed an invasion of flies and larvae.

The firefighters intervened, but could not remove the body due to the lack of an available medical examiner to certify the death. The police had to withdraw to respond to other incidents, leaving the residents to continue enduring the stench. After the social housing administrator explained that they could not intervene, a tenant contacted medical offices, and eventually a doctor agreed to come to certify the death, allowing the body to be removed by a funeral home. This was the third time in the past year that the residents faced such a situation.