# Woodstock nurse at seniors LTC speeded up 8 on their "way"



## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Latest big story in Woodstock Ontario is that a 49 year old LTC nurse has (apparently) speeded up the exit of 8 seniors from age 75 to 93.
She has been labelled a sort of "archangel (of death) by the media. The deaths happened over several years, and over 2 LTC facilities she worked at in those years, but only recently have the police been able to put "one and two..and three...and eight" together to arrive at enough evidence to arrest her.



> Two residents are alleged to have been killed in 2007, three in 2011, one in 2013 and the final two in 2014


7 of her victims lived at the "Caress" ant Care facility. 



> Ironically, an obituary for Pickering, who died on March 28, 2014, included the line, *“Special thanks to staff at Caressant Care, Woodstock for their wonderful care.” *


http://news.nationalpost.com/news/c...risdictional-death-investigation-company-says

Long Term Care "special care".....the families pay huge monthly bills to have their parents look after properly..and apparently one of the entrusted staff members, a registered nurse, decide otherwise.
I guess some law suits may be in order if she is convicted of overdosing.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

It's breaking news instead of a pent up demand to find the perpetrator so hopefully it's not another repeat of the Susan Nelles case.


Cheers


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

Eclectic12 said:


> It's breaking news instead of a pent up demand to find the perpetrator so *hopefully it's not another repeat of the Susan Nelles case.*
> 
> Cheers


That's what I have been thinking. The media including CBC make it sound as though the nurse is guilty even before any details of police charges are known. Perhaps she is, but don't we have innocent until proven guilty?


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Information is that the nurse was terminated at one nursing home for stealing drugs and fired at the second one for coming to work high.

Her neighbors confirmed that she is an addict who has attended several addiction programs and was planning to move to new city this Saturday because she couldn't find work with her employment record.

Question is..........why was she terminated at the first place without informing the Nursing College to revoke her membership. That would have prevented her from employment at the second place.

My wife is a nurse and during her career several nurses were terminated because of drug theft or being high on the job. She reported a nurse who was so high she was using discarded dirty bandages to dress wounds. The hospital fired the nurse but that was it.

The health facilities don't seem to want to get involved.

None of this proves the nurse is guilty and she is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but the information is troubling.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

agent99 said:


> ... The media including CBC make it sound as though the nurse is guilty even before any details of police charges are known.
> Perhaps she is, but don't we have innocent until proven guilty?


From the sounds of it, the first question is whether there's proof of a murder ... though that may just be the crown protecting their case.

The second question is whether the police have the right person.


Time will hopefully tell.


Cheers


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## heyjude (May 16, 2009)

Apparently the nurse is a drug addict and spontaneously told her mental health providers about having killed these people. Normally, patient confidentiality would preclude a health care provider from sharing information, but when public safety is at risk, they have to break confidentiality. They called the police.

If she hadn't confessed, these murders would probably never have come to light. Deaths happen frequently in personal care homes, among elderly people with multiple health problems. There were probably no clues at the time. 

This case is reminiscent of that of Dr. Harold Shipman in the UK.

http://www.biography.com/people/harold-shipman-17169712


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

heyjude said:


> Apparently the nurse is a drug addict and spontaneously told her mental health providers about having killed these people. Normally, patient confidentiality would preclude a health care provider from sharing information, but when public safety is at risk, they have to break confidentiality. They called the police.
> 
> If she hadn't confessed, these murders would probably never have come to light. Deaths happen frequently in personal care homes, among elderly people with multiple health problems. There were probably no clues at the time.


Overdosing pain killers (morphine) is a common problem in these retirement homes. The nursing staff just "shoot them up" due to 
chronic pain, and the doctor(s) aren't around to check up on things. The nursing staff just try to make the patient as comfortable
as possible. 

I have a friend, who's mother ( with a history of heart problem as well as cancer), was admitted to a LTC/pallitive care facility in Lindsay. Within 2-3 months while in there, each day she was administered pain killer medication. And one day while her son was with her visiting, watching the nurse do it.

According to the son, the mother just dropped her head and died in her wheelchair right there and then.
There was no investigation by the family as to whether the pain medication (possibly morphine) made up by the LTC "pharmacy" was too much dosage for one time, given that the mother ( age 76) had a weakened heart due to valve replacement about 3 years back,
or the resurgence of cancer again, (as she was a breast cancer survivor),
but at the point she was admitted into the LTC, her family knew was on her "last legs" in pallitive care.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

sags said:


> Information is that the nurse was terminated at one nursing home for stealing drugs and fired at the second one for coming to work high.
> 
> The health facilities don't seem to want to get involved.
> 
> None of this proves the nurse is guilty and she is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but the information is troubling.


This happened over a space of a few years, due to the age of the patients (76-93) and possible their medical history, it will be a difficult case for the crown to prove at this point. 

At this point in time, I really don't believe the families of the alleged victims will permit their loved ones to be exhumed to determine how much toxicity is still left in the deceased that could be determined scientifically and unequivocally the reason for their death. 

My mother, for example, is 92 going on 93. In the last 10 years, she has had a history of circulation and heart issues (
and on a pacemaker), but she is still lucid and able to live in her her own home (with stairs, I might add) with my live-in brother overseeing her prescribed daily medication routine (no morphine pills) and take her to Sunnybrook hospital on an emergency basis by taxi, if she feels faint or her Heart Rate goes too high.

We,as a family feel that the reason she is still with us, going on 93, is that my brother is with her and she is not pushed into a nursing home/LTC up to now at least. 
She is almost blind but still has the will to keep going in her own home and refuses to be put into a nursing home.

IF some health practitioner gave her an injection of a morphine pain killer..more than likely that would be it for her as well
these days.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

carverman said:


> Overdosing pain killers (morphine) is a common problem in these retirement homes. The nursing staff just "shoot them up" due to
> chronic pain, and the doctor(s) aren't around to check up on things.


It's bigger problem than that ... it was my sister asking what the new medication was for that brought to light that the doctor had written the someone else's medication on Mom's chart. She was also not impressed that the doctor at the local hospital was discharging Mom back to the nursing home despite not checking if there any improvement or arranging for the treatment to continue after the transfer.

There's also the hospital administration that overrode my uncle's doctor to discharge him, over the doctor's objections. There were assurances there would be home care but being a long weekend where the decision to discharge was made at 4pm on Friday - home care had to wait until Tuesday.


Cheers


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Eclectic12 said:


> There's also the hospital administration that overrode my uncle's doctor to discharge him, over the doctor's objections. There were assurances there would be home care but being a long weekend where the decision to discharge was made at 4pm on Friday - home care had to wait until Tuesday.


It depends on the hospital, I suppose.

It's getting to the point of less care for patients vs bottom line for the hospital administration and the number of patients waiting in the hall ways on beds, needing a room...but
it also depends on what wing (cardiac or renal) where the patient is hospitalised, and the whether the patient's condition is critical requiring further inhospital care or they can be attended to at home.

However, it was rather nasty of the hospital to discharge your uncle without ensuring there was some kind of home care available to get him through the weekend at least.

In my case, being confined to a wheelchair and having a pacemaker implantef + stomach ulcer at the same time, I was given a bit more time (8 days) before being discharged for recuperation at a seniors care facility, which was arranged while
I was still in the hospital.
I was not supposed to lift or push anything with my left hand for 25 days due to pacemaker implantation, so that
left me basically unable to look after my daily needs with just one hand.
To make matters worse for me, the seniors LTC facilty did not schedule any extra staff on the weekend to assist me
the way they were supposed to for the money they were going to charge me $3400 for 30 days.

Struggling on my own in my weakened condition, early Monday morning, I told myself, this is very poor arrangement for me, checked myself out and went home by parataxi.

I called a home care agency and they had someone come over right away to assist me. Great service.

Had them pay for the minimum 3 hrs x $30 hr x 7 days ($630) out of my own pocket, but at least I had someone to help me at the weakest time of my life and I was definitely a lot more comfortable being back in my own home.

I'm still managing at home today with a PSW coming in for 3hrs, twice a week.

Didn't think much of that LTC. I will never return there. 
At $950 a week, I was expecting much better care than what I received (no care for Saturday/Sunday). 
I haven't paid them for the 3 days (Fri to Sunday) that I stayed there.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Latest news...LTC caregiver nurse was fired because of mistakes of administering the wrong medication to patients while she was on drugs herself.
Apparently, she used overdoses of insulin to "dispatch" her patients. Insulin (according to news reports) is metabolised very quickly in the body and leaves no traces after 48 hrs. 

Any kind of forensic investigation at this point for the 8 victims would prove fruitless...(sugarless?) as the evidence of insulin being administered by her to her patients is long gone after all these years.

How are the authorities going to prosecute her? On hearsay that she used insulin, but no proof? This reminds me of the Susan Nelles case a few years ago where, she was accused of injection digoxin into the babies. It took a long time and eventually they concluded that it was a rubber compound on the syringes used, that leached into the heart medication killing many babies.
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/baby-killer-turns-out-to-be-rubber/

Whether this Woodstock incident is yet another case of additional circumstances may be proven enough to substantiate charges against the nurse,
but many patients in LTC do have some kind of diabetes requiring medication. 
It's going to be a tough case for the crown to prove, I think.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

When people hear about how privatization is the solution to health care, they should read this article.

This nursing home is one of a private chain of nursing homes, and their ratings from people with loved ones in their facilities are pretty bad.

They score at the bottom of rankings, with municipally run nursing homes scoring almost perfect scores.

When talking about privatization............the profits have to come from somewhere.

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview....nt-get-any-attention-because-it-is-not-murder


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

sags said:


> When people hear about how privatization is the solution to health care, they should read this article.
> 
> This nursing home is one of a private chain of nursing homes, and their ratings from people with loved ones in their facilities are pretty bad.
> 
> ...


 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This article pretty much sums it up for private LTCs. In my extremely weakend condition (after lying in hospital bed for 8 days to get a pacemaker installed and having to go through some GI investigation, I was in a bad state. It was recommended that I check myself into a private FOR PROFIT LTC for 30 days recuperation, as I wasn't supposed to use my left hand for any straining or lifting due to the pacemaker wires implanted for 30 days.

The LTC rates were $135 a day for full care. I checked in on Thursday aft, no help from their resident PSW, and hardly any PSW showed up to help me on Friday either.

I was struggling to get on and off the toilet from my wheelchair.
On Saturday there was no one to help me..but they came with some papers for me to sign so that I would get the assistance I needed at $950 per week...that's $3800 a month! 
On Sunday there was nobody to help me for toilet routines. I also had to get on/off the bed by myself onto the wheelchair to go down to breakfast/lunch/dinner.

Nobody cared for me, so at the daily price they were going to charge me, I decided Sunday night to check myself out, go home, weak as I was, and next day I signed a contract with an agency and had a PSW come in from an agency, that I paid $30 per hour ( minimum of 3 hours) to help me.



> *Whole shifts can go by without a client being taken to the washroom and weeks can go without a full bath or shower.*
> The problem lies, she said, with the way the government funds homecare.
> 
> “*It always boils down to funding*,” she said. “A two per cent increase doesn’t keep up with the cost of living and inflation.* It equals no additional staff. *The reality is the owner/operators of the home have increases in hydro bills, infrastructure and food.”


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

LTC facilities should be fully funded and run by the municipalities. The money should pay for staffing and care.........not profits to the owners.

In small towns across Canada, local LTC facilities are providing top notch care for seniors in that community. 

The people who work there are from the same community. They know each other and each other's families.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

This nurse had a lot of personal problems.

She had alcohol and drug addictions, and mental issues, which were known the LTC homes.

The LTC homes are being questioned on why they didn't report her to the nursing college or authorities.

It is pretty clear why. They didn't want the hassle. Just move her along and she became someone else's problem.

They were probably also concerned about what snooping authorities would discover was going on in their homes.

I don't know how this stuff remains so quiet for so long. 

A lot of people must be aware of what is going on but won't say anything because they have nowhere else to place their loved ones.

If a family member complains loud enough, their loved one gets more care and someone else's loved one gets even less attention.

This situation should not exist because of money.


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