"Les Fossoyeurs", the investigation-book that honors journalism

Audio 02:45

The nursing home of the ORPEA group, "Les Bords de Seine" in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, on January 26, 2022. Victor Castanet reveals in his book-investigation the mistreatment suffered by residents in certain nursing homes of the Orpea group in particular .

AP - Thibault Camus

By: Amaury de Rochegonde Follow

2 mins

Released this week, the investigative book

by journalist Victor Castanet reveals the mechanisms of abuse in establishments for dependent elderly people.

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It's a book, but also an investigation that lasted three years.

As soon as published Tuesday in

, the good sheets of

, this 384-page book published by Fayard, caused a shock wave in the media and on social networks.

It is not so much because of a 50% fall in the share of Orpea, the world leader in addiction, or because its general manager is summoned this Tuesday by the Minister for Autonomy, Brigitte Bourguignon. .

Dip the feather in the wound 

It's not so much that its author reveals extraordinary things or things that are totally unknown to us.

It is above all that the mechanisms of abuse in nursing homes, these accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people, which operate under the Orpea brand, are finally exposed, detailed and explained.

The independent journalist Victor Castanet, trained at iTélé, brings us back to the very essence of journalism, which is to dip the pen in the wound, according to the famous expression of Albert Londres.

And it is true that this pen is very suggestive, because it shows how the rationing of hygienic protections, the overcrowding of establishments or the scars that are allowed to grow for lack of suitable beds, are the product of a capitalist logic and of a faulty control system.

The author tells in particular how the inspections of the Regional Health Agencies are anticipated a month in advance and how far the constant search for profit on the back of extreme dependence will go.

The main revelation of the book concerns a system of embezzlement of public money in the form of retro-concessions to the headquarters of Orpea of ​​a significant part of the grants granted by the State to treat dependent people.

200 testimonials

So of course, the management of the company disputes even the "least rationing" after having refused to answer a detailed questionnaire sent by the journalist.

In 2018, the Orpea group had already tried in vain to have the courts block the broadcast of a report by Special Envoy, signed Julie Puchot on France 2, which called into question its accommodation conditions.

He had refused any shooting in all his establishments.

In 2020, the same Julie Puchot, with Xavier Deleu, had been strangely disavowed by the Ethics Committee of France Télévisions for another report, this time on the competitor Korian.

There, Victor Castanet highlights 200 testimonials, confidential reports, internal emails and even a company whistleblower.

To silence him, he says, an intermediary would have offered him 15 million euros.

A crude trap intended, no doubt, to disqualify him.

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