An emergency services operator has said she is not to blame after she mocked a young mother who died hours after calling the service in acute distress, reports the BBC.
Naomi Musenga, 22, called Strasbourg's ambulance service with severe stomach pain and said: "I'm going to die".
"You'll definitely die one day, like everyone else," the operator replied.
The woman - who wishes to remain anonymous - told French TV on Sunday night that she was under pressure and the emergency services were overworked.
Asked if she regretted what she had said, the operator replied: "In the conditions... let's say it was inappropriate.
"We are constantly under pressure... I can be two or three hours hanging on my phone, I have no time to get up there's so much [demand] everywhere," she said. "We hang up and we pick up."
She said some of her colleagues working in the medical emergency services had received threats since news of Musenga's death had emerged.
Musenga's family have refused to blame the operator, saying they recognise her poor working conditions, France's BFMTV reported.
The operator's lawyer told BFMTV last week said that she would normally field on average 2,000 calls a day.
"When... you hear: 'I have a stomach ache'... it is true that the first reflex is to think that there is no absolute emergency and that one has to go and see their GP," the lawyer said.