CARP and the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly are demanding that Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne hold a public inquiry into the Elizabeth Wettlaufer murders and the "systematic failures of long-term care."
The request comes as the former Ontario nurse, Wettlaufer, is sentenced for the murder of eight long-term care residents, the attempted murder of four, and two aggravated assaults.
The two groups want a public inquiry to "examine the specifics of this case and the systematic failures which allowed these crimes to happen and go unnoticed and unreported over the course of several years," says a news release.
“CARP is very concerned about attitudes and behaviours towards our most vulnerable Canadians in long-term care,” says Wanda Morris, VP of Advocacy for CARP. “A public inquiry is long overdue. Like abuse uncovered in residential schools or Catholic orphanages or parishes, I suspect we will learn problems reach much farther than we currently imagine.”
The crimes took place in three long-term care homes and a private home.
In 2014, after being accused of making repeated medication-related errors, Wettlaufer was finally fired from Caressant Care Nursing Home in Woodstock, ON. This did not prevent her from obtaining employment and access to elderly patients and medication in another home and in the community.
It was not until October 2016 that Wettlaufer was charged for her crimes after police became aware of information she had provided while in a psychiatric hospital. During her trial, it was confirmed the cause of deaths was from insulin injections.
“While Wettlaufer has now pled guilty to her crimes, it’s done nothing to ease the minds of Ontarians concerned about loved ones who live, or may one day live, in long-term care,” says Jane Meadus, Lawyer and Institutional Advocate, Advocacy Centre for the Elderly.
CARP and the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly want the Public Inquiry to have a broad scope, which would inquire into, among other things:
- the actions of the long-term care home and its staff
- the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and its inspection process
- the College of Nurses and its ability to investigate and discipline its members
- the Office of the Chief Coroner and its death reporting and review system
- the Government’s funding and governance of long-term care
- the duty of third parties to report; and
- all other related matters.
In Ontario there are over 76,000 residents residing in approximately 629 long-term care homes.
Of those residents, 90% have some level of cognitive impairment, and one in three have severe cognitive impairments.
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