Elizabeth Wettlaufer – the former nurse accused of killing eight residents at Ontario long-term care homes – was suspended four times from her duties at Caressant Care in Woodstock, Ont. over medical-related mistakes, court documents show.
Court documents made public this week revealed that Wettlaufer had a history of complaints filed against her and was subject to a series of warnings and suspensions because of medication-related errors while working at the long-term care facility between 2007 and 2014 when she was fired.
Wettlaufer faces 14 charges, including eight counts of first-degree murder of eight residents at Ontario long-term care homes. She also stands accused of four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
The alleged crimes took place over the last decade at three Ontario long-term care facilities where she worked as a registered nurse.
The 72-page document also says that Wettlaufer “had direct care of each of the victims … just prior to, the-time of their deaths.”
None of the allegations have been tested in court.
Seven of the murder charges and two of the attempted murder charges relate to residents of Caressant Care, a nursing and retirement home in Woodstock, Ont.
On March 31, 2014, the 49-year-old was fired from Caressant Care “for failing to follow insulin protocol,” according to the documentation used to obtain a production order. Her dismissal letter referred to it as “another incident in a pattern of behaviours that are placing residents at risk.”
“You have an extensive disciplinary record for medication-related errors which includes numerous warnings as well as one, three, and two five day suspensions,” the dismissal letter said.
Months later, Wettlaufer got another nursing job at Meadow Park Care Centre in London, Ont. where she is accused of killing Arpad Horvath in August 2014.
The 75-year-old former businessman had died days after being “found unresponsive with very low blood-sugar.”
Wettlaufer was his nurse at the time, the documents show – as she was on three previous occasions when he was found with low blood-sugar levels.
Horvath was the last alleged victim, according to the documents.
His son, Arpad Horvath, says the new information is upsetting.
“It’s just an unending nightmare,” he said. “Every time you are starting to think you know all the answers… things just change.”
Wettlaufer has been charged with attempted murder of one patient at Telfer Place, a nursing home in Brant County near Paris, Ont.
She worked there until April 2016. Documents reveal she was asked not to return to work at the facility because “of her behavior towards other staff members.”
Again she found another job. This time she was at Lifeguard, a home care service in Brantford, Ont. and Saint Elizabeth, a home health care service in Woodstock,
She resigned from Lifeguard on August 7, 2016. In an email which was included in the court documents she stated she “can no longer function as a Registered Nurse,” the warrant said.
Then, around two weeks later, she quit Saint Elizabeth. According to the documents she “stated that she couldn’t do it anymore.”
In September, Wettlaufer checked herself into the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
The police investigation began that month.
Wettlaufer’s last court appearance was on March 17 in Woodstock.
Her lawyer, Brad Burgess, said a judicial pretrial is now underway and that more disclosure is expected on March 30. A pretrial is a conference involving the Crown attorney, the defence lawyer, the judge and the police officer in charge of the case before the actual trial begins.
