Nurse was fired, documents show
Accused killer was dismissed in March 2014 from Woodstock nursing home, leading some to ask whether deaths of some alleged victims could have been prevented
Accused serial killer Elizabeth Wettlaufer was fired from the Woodstock nursing home where 11 of her alleged victims lived, newly released court documents reveal.
The “dismissal” of the registered nurse occurred March 31, 2014, raising further questions about whether three people she is accused of killing or attempting to kill after that date could have been spared.
Provincial law states that nurses who are fired for reasons of misconduct, incompetence or a health condition that impairs their ability to provide care must be reported to the College of Nurses of Ontario, which regulates the profession. The college then investigates.
Wettlaufer, 49, continued as a registered nurse with the college until she resigned on Sept. 30, 2016, a day after Woodstock police began investigating her.
Officials at Woodstock’s Caressant Care nursing home — where admissions were suspended by the provincial government Thursday due to safety concerns — won’t say if they notified the college of her dismissal, arguing they don’t want to compromise the ongoing police investigation.
Wettlaufer was a registered nurse there for seven years.
For its part, the college refused to say if it received a notice from Caressant about her, describing such information as “confidential.” The college added, however, that it is now conducting “an investigation into Ms Wettlaufer’s professional conduct.”
“In general, providing details of a report on any nurse could interfere and ultimately jeopardize a related criminal investigation as well as the college’s own investigation,” the college told the Star in a written response to questions. “It could affect the credibility of those who submitted a report and any witnesses who were interviewed who may be needed to testify at any hearings held.”
Medical malpractice lawyer Paul Harte described the college’s position as an infuriating contradiction: If the college can tell the public it’s investigating Wettlaufer now, why can’t it say if it investigated her back in 2014?
The only way to find out is for the college to say, at the very least, if a report on Wettlaufer’s firing was received, Harte said. That could “identify a problem that we can fix before another member of the public is harmed,” he added.
Jane Meadus, staff lawyer at Toronto’s Advocacy Centre for the Elderly legal clinic, said the public has a right to immediately know whether the nursing home failed to report the firing, or, if it did, why the college allowed Wettlaufer to continue practising without restrictions.
“It’s hard to know how many deaths we could have prevented, but it’s pretty clear there were some serious signs about this person that everyone just ignored,” Meadus said, referring to reports that Wettlaufer was a drug addict while on the job.
The college says it supports a proposed provincial bill that would increase fines for employers who don’t report nurses when required. But Meadus, who wants a governmentappointed public inquiry into the case, said she has never heard of the college “going after” a nursing home for failing to do so, adding that makes existing and proposed penalties somewhat “toothless.”
Harte said he has heard of nursing homes failing to report nurses simply to avoid the costs and hassle of a college investigation, a union grievance or a wrongful dismissal suit.
Contacted by the Star, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care refused to say if Wettlaufer’s dismissal was reported to the college.
The government order to suspend admissions came as staff at Caressant Care was poised to fill 12 empty beds with patients from Woodstock General Hospital, said Ross Gerrie, president of the Unifor local representing registered practical nurses and support staff at the home. The for-profit home has 193 beds.
Inspectors with the ministry have been inspecting the home daily since charges against Wettlaufer were announced last October. Karen Simpson, director of the ministry’s inspection branch, closed the home due to her 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.”
Caressant spokesperson Lee Griffi said the home is “making extra efforts to meet or exceed Ministry standards.” He added that “immediate changes” are being made and an external consultant has been hired to help.
“We are confident that these actions enable us to better provide for the physical, social and spiritual needs of our residents,” Griffi added.
Questions about the reporting requirement were raised in a Star story last December.
Employers don’t need to notify the college if nurses resign, unless managers had planned to fire them, according to a college document on mandatory reporting. Employers must also alert the college “if there is a concern that a nurse is not practicing safely,” or if a nurse is “incapacitated” by a health condition, including addiction, the college says.
In a Facebook post, Wettlaufer admitted to being an addict until late September 2014, which seems to be the time she first went into rehab. One friend said Wettlaufer told her she got hooked on drugs from the medication cart she controlled during her night shifts at Caressant Care. Another neighbour said Wettlaufer told her she lost her job “because she accidentally gave someone the wrong medication because she was fried.” The neighbour claimed Wettlaufer added that “she wasn’t fired. They said if she left quietly they would just let it go.”
Nothing was publicly known about the circumstances under which Wettlaufer left Caressant Care until a Woodstock court this month unsealed a heavily redacted “information to obtain,” a sworn affidavit by Woodstock Det. Const. Tim Pinder, outlining his reasons for a search warrant in the case.
Pinder’s report reveals that on Oct. 24, 2016, the day before Wettlaufer was charged, a Woodstock police officer “read a letter of dismissal issued by Brenda Van Quaethem to Beth Wettlaufer, and dated March 31, 2014.” Van Quaethem was the administrator at the Caressant home at the time. The letter came from Wettlaufer’s employment records at the home. In the court document, the information the letter contains is re- dacted. Van Quaethem refused to comment when contacted by the Star. She had signalled her intention to retire from the job last summer and left about a month before charges were announced, Unifor’s Gerrie said.
Wettlaufer is charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault. For the attempted murders and aggravated assaults, Wettlaufer is accused of injecting the victims with insulin. The charges cover a period from June 2007 to August 2016.
The attempted murder and aggravated assault charges against six elderly residents were added earlier this month, but the court document reveals Woodstock police began investigating those alleged incidents Sept. 29, the day they were first alerted to Wettlaufer by Toronto police.
Wettlaufer left Caressant Care in March 2014. She is accused of killing 75-year-old Arpad Horvath at a London nursing home five months later. Police alleged she then tried to kill a nursing home resident in Paris, Ont., in September 2015, and tried to murder again while providing in-home care in August 2016.
The last attempt occurred while Wettlaufer worked part time for Saint Elizabeth Home Health Care. She was hired July 20, 2016, and resigned on Sept. 2, according to the newly released court documents.
On Sept. 16, Wettlaufer entered the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and came under the care of a psychiatrist. She gave staff information that caused them to alert police about the deaths, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.