The guest of C in the air – Victor Castanet – 2022: the year of the Ehpad scandal in streaming – Replay France 5

Victor Castanet is an investigative journalist. On November 28 in Riga, Latvia, he received the 6th Albert-Londres Book Prize for “The Gravediggers. Revelations on the system that mistreats our elders”. The result of three years of investigation and 250 testimonies, the book-investigation revealed abuse in Orpea retirement homes. It is one of the biggest scandals of recent years. The author describes a system where hygiene care, medical care and meals for residents of Orpea group nursing homes are sometimes rationed, because a cost reduction policy aimed at improving profitability.

Since then, complaints have accumulated with other groups of Ehpad, in particular Korian, and searches took place in June at the headquarters and in the regional offices of the private group of Ehpad Orpea. And worries are piling up for the group, since on November 15, several dozen establishments of the Orpea group were searched, as part of an open investigation for institutional mistreatment, according to the Nanterre prosecutor’s office. In Austria too, employees of a subsidiary of Orpea were tried for ill-treatment last week.

Victor Castanet will take stock of the current situation of the health system for the elderly in Ehpad, almost a year after the publication of his book-investigation, and will return with an enriched version of 10 unpublished chapters.