HSC ER TAPES SPARK INQUEST

Winnipeg Free Press - February 5, 2009

"I didn't feel the need to review the videotape myself... My information is that he did not formally present himself to the triage desk. If that's later found to be incorrect, then we'll learn that from the inquest. What is not in dispute, I don't believe, was Mr. Sinclair was not triaged." Dr. Brock Wright, WRHA chief medical officer and senior vice-president of clinical services - Feb 4, 2009

Oh my goodness, Mr. Sinclair dies on September 21, 2008 while waiting in the HSC waiting room to receive care. He is a 45 year old double amputee, who has a blocked catheter. All he needed was for someone to fix his catheter and he would be on his merry way. However, after 34 hours of waiting he had not been seen by a doctor or nurse. He was not triaged - yet videotape shows that the spoke with an employee at the triage desk. A horrified person in the waiting room discovers Mr. Sinclair has passed away unnoticed and had been dead for about 3 hours.

Mr. Sinclair dies of a bladder infection caused by his blocked catheter - a treatable condition.

What I haven't told you is that Mr. Sinclair is considered a street person who is aboriginal. He apparently was well known to staff and had visited several times. Somehow he fell through the cracks.

Thank goodness we have Dr. Balachandra, Chief Medical Examiner who shoots straight from the hip and tells it like it is. He has called an offical inquest into Sinclair's death.