Co-worker called nurse ‘angel of death’

Nursing home staffer spoke at inquiry on Wettlaufer murders

A staff member at the Caressant Care nursing home once referred to her coworker, Elizabeth Wettlaufer, as an “angel of death,” a public inquiry has heard.

The chilling term, which popularly refers to serial killers who are caregivers, was used while Wettlaufer was still employed at the Woodstock, Ont., nursing home where she killed seven people in her care and assaulted two others with overdoses of insulin.

Registered nurse Karen Routledge, who worked at Caressant, recalled a conversation Wednesday where a coworker used that term to describe Wettlaufer, who colleagues called Bethe.

“It was in conversation, that Bethe spent extra time with palliative residents and she had been overheard saying to a palliative resident that it was OK to die,” Routledge said, adding that Wettlaufer was apparently suggesting that death was better than severe suffering.

Routledge said she had no recollection of anyone comparing the death registry at the nursing home with Wettlaufer’s night shifts. The public inquiry was not told the name of the Caressant staff member who described Wettlaufer as the angel of death.

Wettlaufer pleaded guilty in June 2017 to killing eight patients and assaulting or trying to kill six others. She confessed to her crimes, unprompted, in September 2016.

The public inquiry was called by the provincial government to determine the systemic failures that allowed Wettlaufer to keep killing and harming residents in her care without being stopped.

Routledge said there was nothing in Wettlaufer’s demeanour that suggested she was a killer.

“For the most part she came in smiling and quite bubbly,” said Routledge, who worked at the home during the seven years Wettlaufer was employed there. “She portrayed herself as a very caring nurse for the residents. She would take on some very difficult (residents), even people who didn’t have family, and bring them special treats from home. I had no idea.”

Routledge was also the union representative for registered nurses in the home. She sat in several of the meetings where Wettlaufer was disciplined for incompetence on the job. Wettlaufer’s employment record contained more than 40 instances when the registered nurse committed medication errors, or was disciplined or warned for incompetence. She was fired from the home in March 2014 for a medication error that put the life of a resident at risk.

“Bethe in general at these meetings would be very contrite and apologetic — ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know how that happened,’ ” Routledge said, referring to the meetings when Wettlaufer was warned or disciplined.

Routledge also described the day the local coroner, Dr. William George, declined to investigate the death of one of Wettlaufer’s victims, despite the death being considered “suspicious,” as first reported in the Star.

Maureen Pickering was rushed to hospital on March 23, 2014, when she suddenly became sweaty and unresponsive. The emergency room doctor noted that Pickering’s blood sugar was very low, despite the fact that she was not a diabetic. The doctor recommended that a coroner be called if she died.

Routledge called the coroner when Pickering died five days later. “The inference when you call a coroner is that it’s a suspicious death,” she testified. She told George about Pickering’s extremely low blood sugar, and the possibility that she suffered a stroke. George decided not to investigate. The incident raises questions about whether a chance to catch Wettlaufer before she continued killing was missed.

Pickering was Wettlaufer’s seventh murder victim. She killed again at the Meadow Park nursing home in London after being fired from Caressant.