A10 FOLIO OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | THURSDAY,AUGUST1,
Daniel Silcox, whose father, James Silcox,
84, was the first to be killed by Ms. Wet-
tlaufer in 2007, said he understood why
the commissioner stopped short of assign-
ing blame.
But he added that some of the players
in the system were negligent, including a
local coroner who declined to investigate
the deaths of seniors who Ms. Wettlaufer
later confessed to murdering.
“If anybody had done the autopsy on
my father, it could potentially have saved
seven other people,” Mr. Silcox said. “My
heart breaks because of that.”
Justice Gillese’s report found that Onta-
rio’s long-term care system is “strained,
but not broken,” which she said makes it
possible to improvethe lawgoverning
nursing homes without tossing it aside
and starting over.
To that end, her recommendations fo-
cused on strengthening medication man-
agement, employee training, record-keep-
ing, communication and staffing at nurs-
ing homes and related institutions, includ-
ing the coroner’s office and the regulatory
college that disciplines nurses.
Many of the recommendations would
cost “little or nothing to implement,” the
report said, but for those changes that re-
quire more funding, “the cost is propor-tional to the serious threat that health-
care serial killers present in the long-term
care system.”
Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Ful-
lerton, one of four cabinet ministers from
the Ford government who met with the
families of the victims in Woodstock on
Wednesday, promised “immediate action”
on the recommendations, but declined to
commit to any specific timelines or dollar
figures.
She did, however, answer Justice Gilles-
e’s calls forthe government to submit a
follow-up report next summer and to con-
tinue paying for counselling for relatives
of the victims for two years.
Susan Horvath, the daughter of Arpad
Horvath Sr., Ms. Wettlaufer’s eighth mur-
der victim, praised the public inquiry’s fi-
nal report but said she was disappointed
that thegovernment did not promise a
specific amount of new funding for nurs-
ing homes right away.
“They have the power to do it,” Ms. Hor-
vath said. “The question is, do they want
to?”
The public inquiry’s report does not put
a total price tag on the proposed changes.
Among its recommendations is a call
for the government to spend the next year
studying whether to increase the number
of “registered staff” required for day, eve-
ning and night shifts at nursing homes.
Right now, only one registered nurse is
required to be on site, no matter the size of
the home or time of day, and there is no
minimum requirement for registered
practical nurses.
The report also suggested that the min-
istry create a new three-year grant pro-
gram that would allow homes to apply for
between $50,000 and $200,000, depend-
ing on their size, to improve the security ofWettlaufer: Formernursewasin
nowaya‘mercykiller,’reportsays
Ifanybodyhaddonethe
autopsyonmyfather,
itcouldpotentiallyhave
savedsevenotherpeople.
Myheartbreaksbecause
ofthat.DANIELSILCOX
SONOFJAMESSILCOX,WHOWAS
THEFIRSTPERSONTOBEKILLED
BYELIZABETHWETTLAUFERINFROMAElizabethWettlaufer
attemptedtokillBeverly
Bertram,above,withan
overdoseofinsulinin
2016.ArpadHorvathJr.,
below,losthisfather,
ArpadHorvathSr.,
whilehewasunder
Ms.Wettlaufer’scare.
FREDLUM/
THEGLOBEANDMAIL