In a very detailed investigation, Les Fossoyeurs, the independent journalist Victor Castanet, published by Fayard on Wednesday, January 26, the lucrative excesses of certain nursing homes in the private sector. His work nourishes a necessary reflection on the methods of taking charge of dependency.
The investigation by independent journalist Victor Castanet on the “business” of private retirement homes deserves, on the contrary, to be carried and debated in the public square. With the presidential election approach, it comes to feed disturbingly – sometimes even revolting – the debate on this significant subject.
The author’s purpose is not to claim that all accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) in the country are places of death where “elders” are mistreated.
He never falls into generalizations. The “gravediggers” he presents are not the “little hands” of this extraordinary world (carers, employees, caregivers, etc.) but rather certain decision-makers for whom old age has become, according to him, a lucrative vein.
A private French group with resounding success concentrates most of its attacks: Orpéa, the world number one in the sector of nursing homes and clinics. A juggernaut: 65,000 employees in 1,100 establishments across the planet; 220 nursing homes in France alone.
By first focusing on the excesses reported in one of them, in Neuilly-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine), the author did not imagine that he would plunge so deep into the heart of this which he calls the “Orpéa system”.
According to the author, the obsession with profitability would have pushed the historical leaders of the group to impose questionable managerial methods, cut back on expenses, manage to make the most of public money, and juggle with the contracts of individual contractors constantly.
The author deciphers this mechanism which, according to him, explains the dysfunctions observed in certain Ehpad Orpéa. The group, solicited on several occasions, did not wish to answer his questions, just like Mr Marian and his two closest collaborators, central characters of this story of a bluffing natural richness.
Victor Castanet, supported by his publisher (Fayard), claims to have proof of what he puts forward to denounce the “exclusively accounting management of the care of vulnerable human beings”.
In nearly three years of investigation, he met 250 people, recorded more than 200 testimonies, unearthed confidential reports and internal emails, obtained the support of witnesses ready to accompany him to justice if necessary.
Among them were relatives of residents, former executives of Orpéa, and even a lawyer employed in the group’s human resources, Camille Lamarche.
This young woman, who sees herself as a whistleblower, played an active role in this investigation, from which the journalist comes out with two certainties: the control authorities are not strong enough to fight against such a powerful group, and it is urgent for the State to look into the subject.
