His revelations will not remain without a future. Victor Castanet, author of the investigative book “Les Fossoyeurs”, caused an explosion by denouncing abuse in private nursing homes. Its precise documentation of an inhuman system of rationing, and the race for profits at the expense of residents within Orpea establishments, scandalizes the country. And opens on a vast question: how do we really treat our elders today? Several actions are in progress, in the continuity of shock book, in order to understand how such failures could persist for years. The affair has already cost the head of Yves Le Masne, managing director for more than ten years, replaced by Philippe Charrier, promoted from non-executive chairman to CEO.
- Two investigations launched by the government
The minister responsible for the autonomy of the elderly, Brigitte Bourguignon, announced last week the opening of two administrative investigations, including one by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) on the Orpea group. “Today we are launching an Igas survey (General Inspectorate of Social Affairs) and an IGF financial survey, this is a first, because you have to hit hard to show that you are not doing just anything “in nursing homes, “a lucrative activity but which should not be to the detriment of well-treatment”, she added.
The conclusions of this mission will be the subject of a “final report” on March 14.
- The Senate takes up the case
The senators will take up the case. According to The world, the upper house of Parliament should soon summon the members of the government and the health authorities concerned by the facts described in the work of journalist Victor Castanet. “Our committee could devote work to a ‘control of control'”, wrote the president of the Social Affairs Committee of the Senate, Catherine Deroche (LR), in a letter addressed to the other members of the office of this committee. Senator (LR) of the Loire Bernard Bonne will be responsible for carrying out this work, according to the daily.
- Failing State controls: hearings continue at the National Assembly
After the leaders of Orpea, last week, the journalist Victor Castanet was heard on Wednesday before the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, alongside Amélie Verdier, director general of the regional health agency of Île -of France. The objective, among other things, to find out more about the role of the state in this scandal. The book recalls that private establishments such as those of Orpea know most of the time, well in advance, the dates of their control. This allows them to prepare in advance. Worse, these are rather rare. Since 2011, ARS Île-de-France has carried out 16 inspections in 14 establishments of the Orpea group, which has 57 establishments with 5,100 residents in the region.
“The regional health agencies have failed. They have been unable or unable to fulfill their primary mission, namely to ensure the proper use of public money and above all to protect our elders”, denounced Victor Castanet in particular. . “This book questions the current system of supervision, control and inspection”, recognized Amélie Verdier, who took over the management of the ARS last summer, which supervises 707 nursing homes, 45% of which are private, with 63 000 places in Ile-de-France. The Covid crisis has amplified the problem. The ARS, which has 20 inspectors and a pool of 200 professionals (doctors, pharmacists, nurses, etc.) who can be mobilized, has “reviewed and adjusted” its inspection program downwards, observed Amélie Verdier.
Other hearings are planned in the coming days, starting with the Hauts-de-Seine departmental council.
- Collection of testimonies: a collective action in the pipes
Orpea, like other groups of private nursing homes like Korian, is also under threat of extensive collective action. A lawyer, Sarah Saldmann, is already compiling “several dozen” testimonies on suspicions of abuse in nursing homes of the private group Korian and plans to prepare joint collective action against him, as against Orpea, she said on Monday.
Stating that she has been contacted by some 150 families who have expressed the wish to join the collective action she is preparing against Orpea, the lawyer says that she is inundated with calls, emails and postal letters, contacts on social networks targeting Ehpad, private or public, mainly Orpea, Korian and also, to a lesser extent, DomusVi, another private commercial group of Ehpad.
“Each file must be examined, but the counts of offenses are non-assistance to a person in danger, manslaughter, deliberate endangerment of the life of others and violence by negligence, knowing that it is individualized for each file” , says the lawyer. It plans to launch these procedures in March against Orpea and in April against Korian.
- Three unions are preparing complaints against Orpea for “union discrimination”
The unions are finally stepping up to the plate. The CGT, the CFDT and FO indicated on Friday that they intended to file a complaint against the group of private nursing homes Orpea, which they accuse of “union discrimination” and of having relied on a “house” union at its command. “We had long had suspicions about unacceptable actions by management, but the testimonies and evidence provided by Victor Castanet’s book will allow us to take legal action”, explained Guillaume Gobet, CGT manager and former cook at Orpea. .
The complaint, which must be filed before the end of the month, could target heads of “trade union discrimination” and “obstructing trade union activity”, said Guylain Cabantou, another CGT official. Another track envisaged is a complaint for harassment, of which the elected CGT would have been victims on the part of the management, indicated for her part Me Apolline Cagnat, the lawyer in charge of the criminal file. The CFDT and FO are considering a similar but separate legal approach, their representatives at Orpea said.
The unions accuse the management of the group, in turmoil since the publication of the book-investigation, of having short-circuited them by favoring the emergence and victory in the professional elections of a “house” union, baptized Arc-en- Ciel, as well as Unsa, which they consider subservient to the management. This situation “prevents other trade unions from being able to properly defend employees, which distorts the very role of staff representatives”, deplores Guillaume Gobet.