Abuse in nursing homes: facing the deputies, the leaders of Orpea remain in denial

During nearly three hours of hearing, the Managing Director France and the CEO of the group systematically bypassed the questions of the Social Affairs Committee.

New dodge for the leaders of Orpea, this time with a little melodramatic touch. For nearly three hours, the deputies of the Social Affairs Committee on Wednesday asked a succession of questions as precise as they are incisive. But the general manager France of the group Jean-Christophe Romersi and the brand new CEO of Orpea Philippe Charrier, remained more than evasive.

Each in turn and in a different tone, they played the same card, that of complete denial. To believe that they had perfectly revised the manual of the “good cop, bad cop”: throughout the session, Charrier kept his insurance without batting an eyelid while Romersi served his lines with tremolos in his voice. Promised, sworn, the well-being of their residents is close to their hearts. On the other hand, if we hoped for clarifications on the facts of negligence and mistreatment of residents revealed by the book-investigation the Gravediggers of Victor Castanet, we will still have to wait. For hours, the duo succeeded in never questioning themselves, while easily avoiding answering questions from deputies.

“Not the reality of life in our establishments”

Philippe Charrier had already given a taste of his communication strategy on Tuesday. …