ST. THOMAS, Ont. -- A public inquiry examining the circumstances that allowed a long-term care nurse to kill elderly patients in her care is set to get underway today in St. Thomas, Ont.
The inquiry, led by Ontario Court of Appeal judge Eileen Gillese, will examine systemic factors that allowed Elizabeth Wettlaufer to inject more than a dozen patients with overdoses of insulin while working at long-term care homes and private residences in southwestern Ontario for nearly a decade.
Wettlaufer's crimes were never detected and only came to light when she confessed them to mental health workers and police.
The Ontario government set up the inquiry last summer after Wettlaufer pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
She was sentenced to life in prison without parole eligibility for 25 years.
Some of the people who have permission to call and question witnesses at the Long-Term Care Homes Public Inquiry include one of Wettlaufer's surviving victims, family and friends of those she killed, and advocacy and health-care organizations.
