Nursing home at centre of murder probe ordered to halt new admissions
An Ontario long-term care home where a former nurse is accused of killing seven seniors has been ordered by the province to temporarily stop admitting new patients.
The directive concerning the Caressant Care Nursing Home in Woodstock, Ont., states that the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care has concerns about the safety of current or future residents, but does not elaborate on the nature of the concerns.
The letter, sent Wednesday to the chief executive of the Community Care Access Centre for southwest Ontario, made no mention of the recent murder charges laid against a nurse who worked at the facility for several years.
In a statement, Ontario’s health minister said concerns about the home “relate to incidents that occurred since August 2016 and do not involve any issues that the police have been asked to investigate.”
Elizabeth Wettlaufer, a former Caressant Care nurse, is charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, seven of which involve former residents of the home. Two of the four attempted murder charges she also faces also concern Caressant residents, as well as a pair of aggravated assault charges against elderly sisters who lived there.
The directive sent to Caressant Care, posted on a government database, refers only in vague terms to concerns about the Woodstock home.
“The ceasing of admissions has been directed based on my belief that there is a risk of harm to the health or well-being of residents in the home or persons who might be admitted as residents,” wrote Karen Simpson, the director of the Long-Term Care Inspections Branch for the ministry.
A spokesman for Caressant Care said the halt on new admissions has gone into effect.
Lee Griffi said the home had been the subject of “intensive” ministry inspections for the past 90 days and said it had been ordered to “improve certain practices.” He did not provide details as to the nature of the improvements, and the Ministry of Health would only say that the home did not meet standards laid out in the Long-Term Care Homes Act.
“During recent Ministry inspections at Caressant Care Home in Woodstock, it became apparent that there were compliance issues. As a result, the Ministry ordered a cease of admission — effective Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017 — to ensure these unresolved issues are addressed quickly,” Health Minister Eric Hoskins said in a statement.
The timing of the inspections at the Woodstock home coincides roughly with Wettlaufer’s arrest.
Police launched an investigation in late September after becoming aware of information the 49-year-old former nurse had given to a psychiatric hospital in Toronto that caused them concern, a police source has told The Canadian Press.
In October, Wettlaufer was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of residents at nursing homes in Woodstock and London, Ont. Police alleged Wettlaufer used drugs to kill the seniors while she worked at the facilities between 2007 and 2014.