WINNIPEG — An inquest into the hospital emergency room death of Brian Sinclair is set to start Tuesday.
The 45-year-old double amputee died in 2008 after waiting 34 hours in the Health Sciences Centre emergency room with a bladder infection.
“Of course we’re anxious to get to the bottom of what transpired that day,” Brian’s cousin Robert Sinclair told Global News.
The inquest will focus on the circumstances surrounding the death and how to make sure a similar situation never happens again.
“There has to be someone accountable as to how he died and the conditions he died in,” Robert Sinclair said.
Security footage showed Sinclair speaking to hospital staff before he wheeled into the waiting room.
A criminal investigation that delayed the inquest’s start found no nurses or staff should face charges.
“It’s been a while but we are here now,” said Vilko Zbogar, the Sinclair family lawyer.
Unlike an inquiry, an inquest can’t lay blame or hold people accountable for their role in a death. Zbogar hopes recommendations made during this inquest will be followed.
“Hopefully the lessons from Brian Sinclair’s case are compelling enough that the responsible authorities will be moved to implement them,” he said.
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has said Sinclair’s death was preventable and changes have been made to how people are triaged at the ER.
That’s not enough for the family.
“I believe that every individual in Manitoba has the right to a good health system, and we’re not getting it,” said Robert Sinclair.
The inquest is scheduled to run until Aug. 29 then start again in October. Time is also set aside for it to continue into 2014.
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