“My life has no closure and I’m going on four years now.”
Susan Horvath’s father Arpad was the last of Elizabeth Wettlaufer’s eight victims. He died at London’s Meadow Park Long Term Care in August of 2014 and was later exhumed.
“While everyone buries their dead, I had to take my dad out of the grave,” she says.
Horvath has now launched a $12.5 million civil lawsuit.
It names 18 defendants, including Meadow Park and Caressant Care, the two nursing homes where Wettlaufer murdered her victims. Those who worked in management at the homes and the Ontario Nurses’ Association have also been included in the lawsuit.
“They had the evidence, we say, that showed she should not have been continuing to practice.”
A public inquiry into Wettlaufer’s actions before her arrest is currently underway.
“We’ve heard from enough witnesses about the mistakes that were made, all the things they turned a blind eye to,” says Nigel Gilby, a lawyer with Lerners Personal Injury Law Firm.
The inquiry will make recommendations which may or may not be implemented.
“What’s being alleged in the simplest terms is ‘you failed to do what you should have done to protect and properly look after the people that were in your care’ and were so vulnerable,” he says.
Horvath claims she’s more interested in change, than money.
“I’m trying to [be a] voice... for the seniors,” she says. “That’s what I’m shooting for. Because we’re all going to get old.”
She also has a message for those who work with the elderly.
“Nurses, PSWs, I’m begging everybody. I’m begging you for my own father. Just complain. If you see something, do [something].”
Other lawsuits have also been filed by victim’s families.
CTV contacted those named in the newest lawsuit. Both Caressant Care and the Ontario Nurses Association say they have not yet been served and cannot comment. Meadow Park has not yet responded to CTV’s request.
