Me Sarah Saldmann brings together various complaints to launch within a few weeks a “collective action” against the giant of Ehpad, in turmoil since the publication of the book “Les Fossoyeurs”. “The case is just beginning,” says the lawyer.
Sophie Mayer, whose mother lived in the “La Chanterelle” retirement home in Pré-Saint-Gervais (Seine-Saint-Denis), is one of the families angry with the Orpea group. On November 14, 2018, she received a call from a caregiver: “He told us that mom had fallen the day before, and that, as she was in a little pain, they preferred to take her to the hospital, says the complainant. When we joined mum, she was suffering martyrdom, it was terrible, she told us that she had fallen on her knees the day before, and that she had called but no one had answered.“
His mother will finally be operated on twice at the Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris, after x-rays revealing fractures in both legs. “Mom stayed 24 hours with both broken legs in the residence of the Orpea group“, she laments. Following the trauma, her mother, “back at home“, will die in March 2019. Since then, Sophie Mayer explains that she has “never managed to find out what happened“.
After many reminders, she ended up getting an interview with Orpea: “I was alone with my husband, there were seven people in front of us. Obviously, they had all agreed on schedules which absolutely did not correspond. They explained to us that Mom had jumped over the barrier of her bed in the middle of the night. They were told it was impossible: mum couldn’t move, she was in a wheelchair and on sleeping pills. We found ourselves facing a wall. They told us that she did not complain and that the elderly did not feel the pain.“
Sophie Mayer says she decided to file a complaint following the publication of the book-investigation The Gravediggers, in which Victor Castanet denounces serious dysfunctions within the Ehpad of the Orpea group. The journalist points to an obsession with profitability, with, for example, shortcomings in terms of personnel and rationing of nappies or food.
“The publication of this book was like an electric shock, I had the impression of having gone to the end of the end of what I could do“, says Sophie Mayer. The plaintiff describes “a black anger, but also an unfailing determination so that we never again treat our elders this way… What they did to my mother you wouldn’t do to a dog.“
“The retirement home was 10 minutes from my house, mum was visited extremely regularly by the family, she adds. When I see what they did to him, I dare not even imagine what they could do to the residents whose families live in the provinces or abroad.“
Sophie Mayer’s lawyer, Me Sarah Saldmann, is in the process of collecting different complaints to launch a “action collective“against the group.”This is not a class action in the American sense.“, specifies the lawyer. The idea, according to her, is to “having many complaints filed simultaneously” : “It’s a mass and a real union against a giant like Orpea. If everyone makes their complaint on their side, the group will simply send a standard registered letter to everyone.“
Among the families who contact her, Me Sarah Saldmann mentions, for example, complaint files for “manslaughter” Where “negligent abuse“. “Among the cases that I have seen, they are patients who are locked up, patients who are not fed enough, she lists. Hygiene also matters a lot” The lawyer does not specify the number of families concerned, judging that “the case is just beginning“.
“When you pay around 5000 euros, you expect a palace, as in the brochures and during the first visit. The reality is that after the first admission, there is nothing“, continues Me Sarah Saldmann. “What the victims are looking for is not financial compensation, she points out. What they want is recognition in criminal proceedings, even an apology – I don’t know if we can hope for that. It is for the dignity of their father or their mother.“
Contacted, the group did not wish to answer our questions. Orpea, whose leaders are convened Tuesday by the Minister Delegate for the Autonomy of the Elderly Brigitte Bourguignon, announced Sunday in a press release the dismissal of its director general Yves Le Masne. Thanked”for the 28 years of his life that he spent in the service of the group“, he is replaced by Philippe Charrier, promoted from non-executive chairman to CEO”with immediate effect“.
For her part, Brigitte Bourguignon mentioned on Twitter from “substantiated and exceptionally serious charges“. “I wish that all the light is shed on the reported facts“, promised the minister. It should also be noted that the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Île-de-France carried out an inspection of the establishment “Les bords de Seine” in Neuilly-sur -Seine (Hauts-de-Seine), the retirement home of the Orpea group, at the heart of Victor Castanet’s investigation.This Monday, the Nanterre prosecutor’s office told AFP that a preliminary investigation had been opened between March and April 2020 against this Ehpad, following a complaint for acts of manslaughter concerning a resident.A preliminary investigation had then been entrusted to the brigade for the repression of delinquency against the person (BRDP).
Orpea, which spoke last week of accusations “false, offensive and harmful“about Victor Castanet’s book, announced his own”independent assessment mission“, entrusted to “two leading firms“A Mission Always”being appointed“. The band says they want “shed light on the allegations” In progress.
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