Wally Baker fell from a lift device, while Florence Coxon choked from a wheelchair strap. Health Minister George Smitherman said inspectors had discovered deficiencies on the nursing home's physical restraint devices, equipment maintenance and nutrition.
The other areas that the investigators would look into are based on testimonies of families whose elderly relative stayed in the same home for the aged. Det. Sgt. Al Haunts of the 54th Division told the Toronto Star, "Some are (dead) and some aren't. Not every person who has been in touch with us has been talking about a fatality at the home. We've had calls for lesser issues as well."
With the Toronto police in the probe are the Office of Ontario's chief coroner and the Ministry of Health investigators.
Smitherman gave the nursing home until May 22 to submit a tentative plan on how it will solve its deficiencies.
Since 2004, the Ministry of Health had suspended about 12 nursing homes in Ontario. "If they find the home has deficiencies that we're not satisfied can be corrected immediately, then we go to the step of suspending admissions," Smitherman told the Toronto Star.
David Cutler, chief executive officer of Leisureworld, said he was surprised by the admission suspension order since some of the problems cited in the Ministry of Health report had already been solved.
