While Elizabeth Wettlaufer’s guilty pleas provide answers around what she did and why she did it, a number of questions remain about how she was able to get away with it.
Several groups have called for a public inquiry to be held into the matter. The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly has taken things one step further – suggesting that an inquiry look at the entire long-term care centre.
That group’s lawyer, Jane Meadus, says one issue is that reporting of deaths and other issues is typically left up to individual homes.
“We need to have more oversight of the sector,” she said in an interview.
The Canadian Association of Retired Persons has also publicly stated that it wants to see a public inquiry, as has the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.
Meadus says an inquiry could help answer some of the unanswered questions around the case – things like how health authorities handled Wettlaufer’s case, and how Wettlaufer was able to get other jobs in nursing after being fired by Caressant Care.
