Tribune. All and all we have been deeply shocked by the revelations of the book the graves [Fayard, 400 pages, 22.90 euros] of Victor Castanet. Far from revealing acts of isolated abuse, its author denounces existence within the ORPEA group of an industrialized cost reduction system. Such a system, if proven, would involve direct consequences for the quality of tens of thousands of elderly people as well as the working conditions of thousands of group employees.
A number of practices denounced in this book question us: Does the ORPEA group actually put in place a rationing of health products, including protections, with the impacts on the dignity and health of the elderly who are unveiled? Has he rationed feeding products by imposing a meal cost of about 4 euros per day and per person, barely more than one euro per meal? Did he have, as the author reports, a management for the least criticable public money allocated to him every year by regional health agencies and departmental councils?
The charges contained in this book are serious. They rely on testimonials of more than 250 people including a substantial number of older employees of the ORPEA group and multiple documents.
Auditions under oath
Faced with these accusations, all the light must be made. More broadly, a public debate must open up on the complex issue of the management of the dependence of our seniors, its financing and its hard trades.
Only a parliamentary inquiry commission would allow the ORPEA group leaders to be audited immediately and under the oath, thereby weighing a criminal responsibility on their remarks, and to be communicated any document it would judge useful. Such guarantees would prohibit the blurred and imprecise responses that were made by these same leaders during the hearing at the National Assembly on February 2nd.
This parliamentary inquiry commission seems to us absolutely necessary. We solemnly ask here to create it!
The launch of this parliamentary inquiry into the National Assembly would not adversely be contradictory to that the Senate has just announced, the scope of which concerns the policy of controls of the EHPAD and not the practices of the ORPEA group.
It would not be contradictory either with the suspension of the work at the National Assembly at the end of February: a parliamentary inquiry commission at full latitude to meet outside parliamentary sessions.
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