The Ontario coroner’s office is investigating the suspicious deaths of three elderly residents of a controversial west Toronto retirement home.

The coroner’s probe comes after a Star investigation detailed allegations that residents Edith Farrell, 80, and Danny Henderson, 74, died in hospital earlier this year after suffering severe malnutrition at In Touch Retirement Living.

After the story ran, family and friends of a third resident, Nellie Dineno, 83, came forward with allegations that she too had serious health problems that went untreated before her death in late July.

Dr. Dan Cass, regional supervising coroner for Toronto west, said his work will be “complicated a little bit” by the fact that all three died months ago, so their bodies are not available for autopsies.

Cass said he will “cast the net fairly widely,” tracking down medical records and information from those who were in contact with the residents before they died.

“If there are concerns about a death including issues around care provided to people or negligence in care, then that is a reason for us to investigate,” he said.

In Touch owner Elaine Lindo did not respond to interview requests for this story and refused to be interviewed for previous stories as well.

The Star’s investigation into the deaths of Farrell and Henderson detailed allegations from friends and relatives who said both died because the food was substandard and neither got help with their struggle to eat.

Margaret Roberts, Farrell’s daughter, said her mother’s ability to eat independently was declining as a result of her dementia, but no one from the home intervened to help.

Roberts, a registered nurse who works in the United States, said she took her mother to the hospital when she visited last spring. The test results, Roberts said, showed “clinical starvation” dehydration and seriously diminished kidney function.

One possible outcome of the investigation could be a coroner’s inquest into the deaths. Inquests examine how and why unnecessary deaths occur, to stop others from experiencing a similar fate.

Dependent on workers who didn’t have the skills to manage their medical needs, the residents’ final months shed light on an unregulated industry that puts the vulnerable elderly at risk.

The Liberal government says it will fix the industry’s problems with its new Retirement Homes Act.

But critics say the government will allow the privately operated retirement homes to accept residents with high-medical needs without creating tough regulations.

Judith Wahl, executive director for the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, says the new act will focus more on consumer protection than medical care.

Wahl applauded the coroner’s investigation, saying it will expose the risks facing medically fragile residents of retirement homes.

“It is a very vulnerable population,” Wahl said. “Residents are not just people who have made a lifestyle decision to live in a retirement home, who are wealthy and healthy, and want better hotel-like services.”

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The coroner’s probe comes after Toronto police and Ontario’s Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee announced separately a few weeks ago they were investigating allegations of missing resident money.

The Star began investigating In Touch last summer, uncovering a litany of problems within the home, including substandard food.

Three weeks after residents Farrell and Dineno died in late July, the Star sent an undercover reporter into the home for a week, and also investigated In Touch through public records and interviews.

Among the problems were dangerous food preparation, underpaid staff, a rent cheque (belonging to Dineno) cashed after her death and court records detailing a confrontation that led to an assault allegation, which a judge later dismissed.

Documents leaked to the Star showed that Toronto public health officials investigated allegations of malnutrition but found nothing wrong.

Many of the residents had dementia or other serious medical problems and required the care of a government-funded and licensed nursing home. There are 77,000 nursing home beds in Ontario, with a waiting list of 24,000.

Retirement homes in Ontario are unregulated, while nursing homes face hundreds of regulations, although many problems persist in these homes as well.

The Liberal government says its new Retirement Homes Act will create oversight but critics say little will change unless regulations — as yet unwritten — force rigorous, surprise inspections and tough sanctions against problem homes.

The government should require the coroner’s office to investigate every tenth retirement home death like it does in nursing homes, Wahl said.

“It is important that there be public oversight if they are going to offer heavy levels of care.”