Three years of investigation, 250 testimonies, thousands of documents, the investigation book The Gravediggers, published by Fayard editions, had the effect of a bomb on the day of its release, January 26, 2022. In this book, the independent journalist Victor Castanet meticulously describes the excesses and mistreatment of the private group Orpea, world number 1 in nursing home sector with regard to residents of the Neuilly-sur-Seine establishment, the most expensive in France.
Residents pay between 7,000 and 12,000 euros per month, but their meals, their intimate protections, are rationed, according to the journalist, by obsession with profitability, “There were clear instructions from the general management not to spend more than three changes a day. It could go down to less, but let’s say that was the limit set.” The book could not have seen the light of day without whistleblowers like Laurent Garcia, a former nurse at the “Les Bords de Seine” establishment, who was the very first to put the journalist on the trail of Orpea or Camille Lamarche, young alternate in the HR department of Orpea, who like others have agreed to be quoted in the book.
The book changed the life of the journalist, who had notably produced several reports abroad, and gave him another dimension as a reporter. Today it is “challenged in the street, in cafes, in bookstores, by people affected and angry”, becoming in spite of himself “a benchmark in the sector”. Today, people write to him and give him avenues of investigation on other subjects: “There were several sequences and in particular the media sequence which was difficult to manage, at one time.”
“It was a media whirlwind. I had a lot of requests at that time and I tried to be able to respond to them because it was important for the promotion of the book and above all to maintain a form of media pressure on the political class so that this story goes to the end.”
Victor Castanetat franceinfo
“Then after, continues Victor Castanet, there was the sequence of meetings where I went all over France to see readers. Then there is another sequence which is the judicial sequence where I was interviewed personally. These are years, pivotal moments in a life.
The evidence gathered by Victor Castanet is overwhelming and the consequences immediate: the general manager of Orpea is sacked and the group’s share price falls on the stock market. A double investigation is launched by the government. Victor Castanet did not expect the book – which sold more than 150,000 copies – to have such a resounding echo. “When I put my email at the end so that someone would write to me after reading this book, I thought I would sell 10,000 copies and I expected to receive a few dozen emails at most, if not a few hundred. I received thousands.”
The group, in any case its leaders, is then confronted with justice and must answer for its actions. “Beyond the repercussions that there will be on the sector, there is a freedom of speech that I find quite important and pleasing. This has allowed employees, families who did not dare to speak or who were not listened to, to be able to do so, to be audible and heard. And that, when you are a journalist, is always gratifying.”
Nor did he expect the book to have such an impact on the Orpea group. “I don’t think anyone in France can consider that when you pay 3,000 euros, 4,000 euros or 5,000 euros per month, it is normal that you are given 4.20 euros per day to eat. I was sure that we had very strong elements, evidence of serious dysfunctions, in particular on subjects of mistreatment or management of public money. But I did not know how much it could affect the group. A group today in full renewal which has just placed, Monday, July 4, at the head of its board of directors Guillaume Pépy, the former general manager of the SNCF.
Several months after the publication of the investigative book, actions were carried out at the political level: a double investigation by the IGF and the Igas, a consultation, hearings of the leaders in the Senate. “It didn’t go far enough, believes Victor Castanet. I can’t wait for strong decisions to be made and for an “old age” law to be implemented and debated. I think there is urgency: people are fed up, they want things to change. It is no longer acceptable that in France there can be this kind of situation to the detriment of residents and employees in this sector who are also extremely poorly paid.
“This book tells the excesses of the world leader in nursing homes, private clinics and the failures of the State: there are no excesses of Orpea if there are no failures of the French State. “
Victor Castanetat franceinfo
Victor Castanet, who is working on an upcoming health sector survey, has had no further contact with Orpea since the book was published. The private group had hinted that they were going to sue him for defamation. To date, no complaints have been filed.