Watchdog didn’t probe killer nurse after firing
Nurses college knew Wettlaufer lost job in 2014 over insulin error 3 months before her last murder
Three months before Elizabeth Wettlaufer murdered 75-year-old Arpad Horvath with an insulin overdose, the College of Nurses of Ontario knew she’d been fired for a mistake administering the medication, a disciplinary hearing revealed Tuesday as it declared Wettlaufer guilty of professional misconduct.
After she was fired in 2014, Wettlaufer’s employer, Caressant Care, told the college it had no other concerns, so the organization — which regulates the profession of nursing in Ontario — decided not to formally investigate.
“What is baffling to me is that there was no investigation in 2014,” said Doris Grinspun, CEO of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. “We want to understand in the public inquiry why the college decided otherwise.”
Speaking to media Tuesday, lawyers for the college said it had no way of knowing Wettlaufer’s dismissal was different from the 1,300 other firing notices it receives annually and that it stands by its decision, based on what it knew at the time.
“There was no allegation whatsoever at that time of a deliberate attempt to overdose a patient,” said Mark Sandler, a lawyer for the college.
“They saw no underlying concerns at the time.”
Tuesday’s hearing came just weeks after Wettlaufer was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of eight elderly patients. She was also convicted of the attempted murders of four others and two charges of aggravated assault.
In confessions to police and staff at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the exnurse said her insulin “errors” were, in fact, meant to be deadly.
The disciplinary board’s decision has little impact. Wettlaufer had already resigned her status as a nurse last fall and is not eligible for parole for 25 years.
However, the new information about her record may guide criticism in the public inquiry that has been promised by Ontario’s Liberal government.
In a statement Tuesday, the NDP called for a provincial inquiry to examine staffing levels, funding, long wait lists and other systemic issues affecting long-term care homes.
The college also revealed new information about a 1995 incident in which Wettlaufer was fired for stealing lorazepam, a sedative used to treat anxiety, from a hospital where she worked. The name of the employer was not specified.
Wettlaufer — who has been to rehab twice — was found dazed and disoriented at work and had to be hospitalized, college lawyer Megan Shortreed said.
On the advice of a substance abuse specialist and doctor, a 1997 fitness-to-work hearing resulted in a year of restrictions on Wettlaufer’s licence.
Those conditions included staying free of drugs and alcohol, submitting to urine tests, telling her present and future employers about the restrictions, seeing an addiction specialist and attending support meetings. Wettlaufer obeyed and the restrictions were lifted in 1998.
That information was publicly posted for six years. The law has since been changed so that it may remain public for a longer period.
The panel of three nurses and two civilians on Tuesday found Wettlaufer committed professional misconduct, calling it the most egregious case of patient abuse it had ever seen. Neither Wettlaufer nor her lawyer appeared at the hearing.
Wettlaufer was fired from Caressant Care in Woodstock, Ont., in 2014 for giving one patient insulin meant for another, the panel heard Tuesday.
Shortreed said the regulatory body was legally bound to keep information about the incident confidential since it wasn’t related to discipline.
Wettlaufer had already killed seven patients by that time.
The college has been criticized for allowing Wettlaufer to continue working after it was notified of the issues. The ex-nurse killed Horvath and attempted to harm two others after leaving Caressant.
But on Tuesday, the college publicly revealed for the first time that it spoke to the director of nursing at the home when it was notified of Wettlaufer’s firing. The director told the college that Wettlaufer had been upfront, took responsibility for her errors and there hadn’t been any long-term harm to patients.
On those grounds, the college decided no formal investigation was needed.