Dr. Dirk Huyer was in the hot seat on Monday after the public inquiry into long-term care homes resumed following a two-week break.
Huyer, the chief coroner for Ontario, was first to take the stand as the inquiry prompted by the crimes of former nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer continued in St. Thomas. Huyer was brought into questioning in order to examine the province’s death investigation system.
Huyer told the court there are certain requirements that make reporting a death to the coroner’s office an obligation.
Some of these requirements pertain to how a person died.
“Essentially anything that’s not natural,” said Huyer.
He testified that if a person passes away and there is reason to believe they died suddenly and unexpectedly or as a result of unnatural causes such as violence, negligence, or malpractice, those deaths must be reported.
Along with the circumstances surrounding a person’s death, Huyer said that it also matters where the death occurred.
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“All deaths that occur in long-term care homes or in the care of a long-term care provider outside of the home… those deaths are to be reported to the coroner.”
Huyer added that deaths which occurred in psychiatric facilities, developmental service facilities and correctional facilities must also be reported. Huyer said that these deaths must be reported because residents from these facilities are part of a vulnerable sector of society.
However, he added that further investigation into a reported death remains at the discretion of the coroner.
The inquiry heard that the coroner’s office previously had a practice of investigating one out of every 10 deaths at a long-term care home as a matter of course.
Huyer told the inquiry this practice was suspended in 2013 in order to save $900,000.
He said he’d heard anecdotal evidence that those screens were not revealing unusual patterns, though he said there were no statistics to support the claim. According to Huyer, other reporting mechanisms were more effective at shedding light on problematic activity in long-term care homes.
READ MORE: Saint Elizabeth HR didn’t contact references when hiring Elizabeth Wettlaufer, inquiry hears
Wettlaufer’s crimes led to the death of eight residents in her care, however, only three of these deaths were reported to the coroner’s office.
The first was James Silcox, whose record described his death as accidental, as well as sudden and unexpected.
The second was Wayne Hedges. His record showed there had been a recent increase in deaths in the facility and that he was the 10th death at the long-term care home to pass in a period of time, making his death a threshold case.
And finally, Maureen Pickering’s death was also reported to the coroner but not because of her record, but rather by a nurse who saw her death as sudden and unexpected.
The first two deaths were investigated further, while Pickering’s was dismissed by a coroner who did not find the death sudden and unexpected.
Hearings for the inquiry looking into how Wettlaufer’s crimes went undetected will continue through September.
The former nurse killed eight long-term care patients over the span of 10 years and her actions only came to light when she confessed them to mental-health workers and police.
– With files from The Canadian Press
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