Jul 24, 2018
Posted on Jul 24, 2018 in Media Reports, National Listings, The London Free Press
Brantford agency should have blown the whistle on Wettlaufer
Jonathan Sher, The London Free Press
A Brantford agency that placed Elizabeth Wettlaufer at nursing homes was wrong not to notify a regulatory college after the nurse admitted she was a “recovered” alcoholic who had resumed drinking, the head of the college told a public inquiry Tuesday. “It’s a huge red flag and warning sign,” Anne Coghlan, the executive director and registrar of the College of Nurses of Ontario, testified. “It definitely (creates) a potential risk of harm (to residents).” Lifeguard Homecare of Brantford, which placed Wettlaufer in a Paris nursing home where she tried to kill a resident, should have reported the nurse’s relapse to the College, Coghlan said. “We all need to be part of the safety net and that is information the College would want to have,” she said. Her testimony comes a month after the head of Lifeguard, Heidi Wilmot Smith, was adamant she was right not to report Wettlaufer, in part because the nurse had shown good judgement in choosing to not work a shift after drinking. But that sort of medical judgement from Wilmot Smith, whose background is in sales, is not supported by evidence, Coghlan said.
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https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/brantford-agency-should-have-blown-whistle-on-wettlaufer-regulator-testifies
Jul 17, 2018
Posted on Jul 17, 2018 in Media Reports, National Listings, The London Free Press
Questions left unanswered after night of suffering by Wettlaufer victim
Jonathan Sher, The London Free Press
Staff at a Woodstock nursing home failed to ask key questions after the death of a non-diabetic resident who spent her last hours suffering from the most grotesque symptoms of plunging blood sugars, Ontario’s chief coroner told a public inquiry Tuesday. Helen Young, a veteran of the Second World War, spent her last night at Caressant Care moaning in pain, her eyes bulging, her words slurred, her legs and arms bent inward and her skin torn after she tried to escape her wheelchair and was restrained by staff. Her descent to death in July 2013 came after killer nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer twice injected her with large doses of insulin, each time telling Young it was pain medication. While other staff at the home would not learn of the killing spree until three years later, the way Young died should have triggered questions that were not asked, Dirk Huyer, chief coroner of Ontario, told the inquiry. “It would be worth asking more questions. . . . This is not the silent death overnight. This was a clinical change,” Huyer testified.
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https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/questions-left-unanswered-after-night-of-suffering-by-wettlaufer-victim
Jun 21, 2018
Posted on Jun 21, 2018 in Media Reports, National Listings, The London Free Press
London nursing home bungled hiring of killer nurse Wettlaufer: Ex-manager
Jonathan Sher, The London Free Press
Meadow Park Nursing Home in London should not have hired Elizabeth Wettlaufer without checking with her supervisor at the Woodstock home that fired her, a key official told a public inquiry Wednesday. Melanie Smith worked at Meadow Park directly under care director Heather Nicholas, who hired Wettlaufer knowing she had been fired by Caressant Care and without speaking to either of the nurse’s supervisors at that facility — relying instead on those selected by Wettlaufer as references. Under those circumstances, said Smith, who would go on to leapfrog her former boss Nicholas to become administrator, a nursing home should speak to an immediate supervisor before committing to the hire.
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https://lfpress.com/health/seniors/london-nursing-home-bungled-hiring-of-killer-nurse-wettlaufer-ex-manager
