Call an inquiry into murders
Elizabeth Wettlaufer killed eight fragile seniors at two southern Ontario nursing homes with abandon and even delight, “cackling,” as she put it, after their deaths and even going out to buy one patient pie and ice cream before murdering her.
At the same time, between 2007 and 2014, the former nurse tried to kill four others, but failed.
All this we know from Wettlaufer’s trial, where she pleaded guilty to the murders, the attempted murders, and two cases of aggravated assault.
What we don’t know, but must quickly learn, is how she got away with it for so long. The province must call an inquiry into the murders to make sure everything is done to avoid a repeat of this appalling failure of our elder care system.
It was chilling enough to learn about the ease with which Wettlaufer could access the insulin she used to kill her patients, and not get caught.
Even more shocking, she might still be killing but for her confession to doctors and staff at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, who called police.
There were plenty of warning signals, including outright confessions, that should have stopped Wettlaufer in her tracks. But tragically, they were ignored.
Alarm bells should have been ringing, for one, over the warnings and suspensions she received for repeated medication errors at the Caressant Care home in Woodstock, Ont., where she killed seven of her eight victims.
The home eventually fired her. And as the Star’s Sandro Contenta reported, it informed the College of Nurses of Ontario on March 31, 2014, that it had fired Wettlaufer for a “medication error” that put the life of a resident at risk.
But when contacted by the Star, the college wouldn’t even say whether it investigated her back in 2014.
That information is key, considering that Wettlaufer went on to kill 75-year-old Arpad Horvath at Meadow Park in London, tried to kill a nursing home resident in Paris, and attempted to kill again while providing in-home care — all after she was reported to the college.
Even more alarming was the number of times she actually confessed to the killings without any action being taken. Among them, she told her pastor in 2014. He prayed over her and then told her he would have to go to police if she ever did it again. She told a former sponsor at Narcotics Anonymous, who didn’t believe her. In 2013, she spoke to a lawyer, who told her it was in her best interests to stay silent. She confessed to more friends, relatives and acquaintances, but none acted on the information.
Then there is the question of how a person with so many personal problems, problems she confessed drove her to kill, could have seemingly unlimited access to drugs. She was a member of Narcotics Anonymous, for example, but had access not only to the insulin she used to kill her patients but to the opiates they were on for pain.
An inquiry should also look at the province’s possible role in the deaths. Less than two years ago, Ontario auditor general Bonnie Lysyk delivered a scathing report criticizing the government for backlogged complaints and inspection delays at long-term care homes. Chillingly, she warned that residents were at risk.
It’s no wonder that, in the wake of Wettlaufer’s confession, many organizations are demanding an inquiry. They include the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, which says “we need to get to the bottom of what happened, how it happened and what we can learn from an organizational, regulatory and system perspective to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”
Wettlaufer will be sentenced at the end of June, ending court proceedings against her. Once that is done, the Wynne government should announce a public inquiry into how the system failed so many seniors and their families. We must learn the lessons of this tragedy.