Paris-based for-profit care home operator Orpea Group has appointed Professor Emmanuel Hirsch as ethics vice-president, responsible for implementing and coordinating the renewal of ethics policy. Hirsch joins the medical department team headed by Professor Pierre Krolak-Salmon.

Hirsch will draw on support from an ethics advisory board currently being established and which he will lead, and will focus in particular on the discussions held in France during the first half of this year as part of the national citizens’ convention on end-of-life care.

Since last year Hirsch has been professor emeritus of medical ethics at the University of Paris-Saclay. He is chairman of the ethical council of the Rafaël Institute. He began his career at the AP-HP Hospital as co-founder and then director of the Espace éthique from 1995 to 2012; and director of the Espace national de réflexion éthique Alzheimer from 2010 to 2014. He became director of the Espace de réflexion éthique of the Île-de-France region from 2012 to 2022 and then director of the Espace national de réflexion éthique des maladies neuro-dégénératives from 2014 to 2022. From 2018 to 2022, he was chairman of the Council for Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity of the University of Paris-Saclay.

Orpea Group’s chief executive Laurent Guillot said: “The medical project, which will enable us to meet the care and support challenges of tomorrow, is at the heart of Orpea’s restructuring plan. Under the direction of Professor Pierre Krolak-Salmon, the group’s new medical director, this project will be based on three pillars: a group medical commission, the keystone of the medical project; an international and interdisciplinary scientific council made up of experts who will support the highest level of our medical and nursing practices; and an ethical orientation council chaired by Emmanuel Hirsch. This council, with its local, regional and national branches, will provide concrete answers to the questions of our teams, our patients, residents, their families, and the various stakeholders.”

Orpea stated it operates in 22 countries, has more than 71,000 employees and caters to 255,000 patients and residents each year.