Wettlaufer tells inquiry lawyers how her crimes could have been prevented
A nurse who preyed on elderly patients in her care told lawyers with an inquiry examining her actions that she wouldn’t have been able to murder eight people if more controls were in place on medication at long-term care homes.
Elizabeth Wettlaufer’s musings on what could have prevented her crimes are contained in a transcript of a lengthy interview submitted as evidence in the public inquiry that got underway in St. Thomas, Ont., this week.
The 50-year-old injected more than a dozen patients with overdoses of insulin while working in long-term care homes and private residences in Ontario for nearly a decade. Her crimes went undetected until she confessed them to mental health workers and police in 2016.
“I’ve given a lot of thought to changes that could have been made where I would not have been able to do this,” Wettlaufer said in an interview conducted Feb. 14 at the prison where she’s serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.