Death at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre ER raises questions about capacity issues, wait room protocols – CBC
Lawyer for family of man who died languishing in same ER 16 years ago calls latest incident ‘disheartening’
Jan 08, 2025
The death of a middle-aged man who spent about eight hours waiting for care at a Winnipeg emergency department has some patient advocates raising questions about what the hospital is doing to prevent similar incidents.
The Health Sciences Centre (HSC) has launched an investigation into the man’s death, which happened at the hospital Tuesday morning. The man had arrived to the emergency department shortly after midnight.
The incident drew comparisons to the case of Brian Sinclair, whose death after spending 34 hours in the same waiting room 16 years ago led to an overhaul of how patients in ERs are triaged and monitored.
Vilko Zbogar, the lawyer who represented Sinclair’s family, said while Sinclair’s case showed some people may be more susceptible to being ignored because of factors like discrimination, the same problems can affect everyone.
