A long-term care home in Ontario where a nurse is accused of killing seven patients has been order by the provincial government to temporarily cease admitting new patients.
A directive sent to the Caressant Care Nursing Home in Woodstock, Ont., by Ontario’s long-term care inspections branch on Jan. 25 cited “risk of harm” to residents as a reason for stopping admissions.
READ MORE: Police exhume bodies of 2 alleged victims of Ontario nurse accused of killing 8 seniors
“The ceasing of admissions has been directed based on my belief that there is a risk of harm to the health or well-being of residents in the home or persons who might be admitted as residents,” the directive read.
No further details were released on why patients may be at risk.
Elizabeth Tracey Mae Wettlaufer, who is charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, is accused in seven deaths at the Caressant Care Home in Woodstock from 2007 to 2014 and an eighth death at Meadow Park in London in 2014.
READ MORE: Elizabeth Wettlaufer: Former Ontario nurse faces 6 new charges in nursing home deaths probe
Police laid six new charges against Wettlaufer on Jan. 13, including four charges of attempted murder linked to new victims at the Caressant Care Home. The other two charges – for aggravated assault – involve patients from Telfer Place in Brant County and a private residence in Oxford County.
Police have said their investigation into the alleged murders was launched in September last year. Wettlaufer was arrested in late October.
VIDEO: Two of the alleged victims bodies in the Elizabeth Wettlaufer case have been removed from their grave sites. Ashley Carter reports on how one family is coping.