Family angered by man's ER death
25.09.2008 15:02
Health
- Source: cbc.ca
 The death of Brian Sinclair in the ER of the Health Sciences Centre in central Winnipeg was 'entirely preventable,' Manitoba's top medical examiner said earlier this week.(CBC)Some of the family of a man who died in the emergency room at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre last weekend say they are shocked and angered by his death. Brian Sinclair was found dead after waiting for more than 34 hours in the waiting room of the hospital's emergency department. A catheter Sinclair had as a result of a bladder problem was blocked and he hadn't been able to urinate for 24 hours, said the province's chief medical examiner Dr. Thambirajah Balachandra, causing his death from an infection. Robert Sinclair told CBC News he can't understand how his cousin could sit in the hospital for such a long time without being noticed. "He's my blood," Sinclair said. "I don't like to see any of my blood relatives die for no reason and I believe that.… It was for no reason. The guy sat there for 34 hours for what reason?" Brian Sinclair, a 45-year-old double leg amputee, took a taxi from a community health centre to the Health Sciences Centre on Friday afternoon. He was found dead after midnight on Sunday, when someone in the waiting room alerted hospital staff. Sinclair appears never to have been assessed by a triage nurse and was not registered as a patient seeking care, so reassessment nurses didn't know he was there for help, officials with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said Tuesday. He was apparently dead for some time before staff were alerted, officials said. The exact time of his death is not known. Bradley Sinclair, a brother, said he has also waited in the emergency room for long periods while seeking care. "I waited, waited, waited with people that were there. They waited long times to see a doctor. That's what happens there," Bradley Sinclair said. Balachandra said Brian Sinclair could have been saved by a catheter change and a course of antibiotics. "I didn't like that," Bradley Sinclair said. "I wish he was alive, but I can't bring him back alive." Balachandra has called an inquest into the death and he expects it to begin almost immediately. The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has also issued a directive requiring clinics that send people to the emergency department to follow up by phone and Manitoba Health has asked emergency department staff to ensure every person in the waiting room is spoken to, to determine whether they have been registered. Followup a standard practice, says former ER directorBut Dr. Moe Lerner, a former hospital emergency room director, said those measures should already be standard practice for health-care professionals. Lerner, who is now medical director at the Four Rivers Clinic, said something went terribly wrong for Sinclair to sit untreated for 34 hours and then die. The inner city clinic Sinclair initially visited sent him to the hospital with a letter explaining his medical situation. But he appears to have never reported to the triage desk at the emergency room. "What should have happened, what should always happen is communication. Doesn't matter who it is or what the problem is — if a physician thinks a person needs an ER it means communication," Lerner said. "That includes if a person drives to an ER. The minute they get through the door they should go to a triage desk." Phoning the ER when a patient is sent to the hospital is the "usual courtesy," he said. Emergency rooms can be very busy places and it can be hard for staff to keep track of who's waiting for care, Lerner said. "In fairness to those involved, sometimes the departments are so busy you cannot get through or you're on hold, and then it's necessary to write a note," he said. "But then it's also necessary to make sure that the person will get there somehow in a reasonable fashion." Story Tools: E-MAIL | PRINT | Text Size: SMLXL | REPORT TYPO | SEND YOUR FEEDBACKRelatedInternal LinksMan's death in Winnipeg ER 'preventable': chief medical examinerOfficials probe Winnipeg man's death after 34-hour ER waitMan dead 'for some time' in Winnipeg ER before staff alerted: officialsHealth HeadlinesFood recalls grow in Chinese tainted milk crisisFood recalls expanded in Europe and Asia on Thursday as an industrial chemical linked to the deaths of four babies turned up in candies and other Chinese-made exports that were quickly pulled from store shelves. 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