Ontario names appeal court judge to head inquiry into long-term care homes

In all those cases, Wettlaufer — who is currently serving a life sentence with no chance for parole for 25 years — deliberately overdosed her patients with insulin.

The judge who presided over her criminal case said the 50-year-old never would have been caught if she didn’t confess to the killings while at a psychiatric hospital in Toronto last September. Court heard she had access to insulin and covered her tracks when using the medication to harm her patients.

“My team and I will do our utmost to determine how these events could occur and to make recommendations so that the tragedies of the past are not repeated in the future,” Gillese said in a statement.

The inquiry was announced by Ontario’s Attorney General and the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care on the same day Wettlaufer pleaded guilty.

On Tuesday, the province provided more details on the probe.

Gillese’s appointment as the inquiry’s commissioner takes effect immediately, the province said. Gillese has been an appeal court judge since 2002 and is a former dean of Western University’s law school.

The inquiry’s final report will include recommendations that will improve the safety and well being of senior residents, the province said.

The government has launched a website for the inquiry which states that investigative work has already begun and public hearings will be held in 2018.

Doris Grinspun, the CEO of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, applauded the broad range given to the inquiry’s commissioner.

“My colleagues are crying for an in-depth look at nursing homes to ensure that resources are put in place so that they can deliver the care that they want to deliver,” she said.

The Ontario Health Coalition, a public health advocacy group, is concerned about the duration of the inquiry.

“The government’s mandate for the inquiry gives it two years to conduct its work, pushing the final report and recommendations until well after the next election and media interest has died down,” Natalie Mehra, executive director of the coalition, said in a statement.

“This is too long. It means that recommendations will not be forged and acted upon for years.”

One of the areas likely to be scrutinized by the public inquiry is the role Ontario’s nursing regulator played in the Wettlaufer case.

Some details of the College of Nurses of Ontario’s involvement came under the spotlight at a disciplinary hearing last week, where the regulator found Wettlaufer guilty of professional misconduct and revoked her certification.

The college knew Wettlaufer was fired from the Caressant Care nursing home in Woodstock, Ont., for a medication error in 2014, but she continued to work — and harm patients — until she resigned as a nurse in September 2016.

Caressant Care told the college about the firing, but the college said it decided not to conduct a formal investigation after interviewing the facility’s nursing director, who the college said identified no underlying issues with Wettlaufer.

Caressant Care, however, said in a statement a day after the disciplinary hearing that it had no records indicating its leadership told the college Wettlaufer didn’t have any underlying issues.

The home said it filed a 20-page report outlining its concerns to the college about Wettlaufer and never heard back from the regulator until Wettlaufer resigned as a nurse more than two years later. It said Wettlaufer was fired after making ten workplace violations over two-and-a-half years, with three violations that led to suspensions.

A lawyer representing the college said the regulatory body was satisfied at the time that Wettlaufer had owned up to the errors at Caressant Care and that there was no evidence of intent to harm her patients.

Mark Sandler also said that documentation that supports the college’s position will be provided to the public inquiry.

By not doing an official investigation, the Caressant Care firing remained private, which meant the public, and other nursing employers, didn’t know about the termination.

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Ontario names appeal court judge to head inquiry into long-term care homes

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