WINNIPEG — Humble, smart and caring is how Brian Sinclair’s sister described him, painting a different picture of the man many only know by how he died, waiting 34 hours in a hospital ER.
“He loved his family,” his sister Esther Grant said. “He was always there when the family needed help, especially his brothers.”
A provincial inquest began Tuesday, nearly five years after 45-year-old Sinclair was found dead at the Health Sciences Centre emergency room, where he’d been waiting to be treated for a bladder infection.
Manitoba’s medical examiner found Sinclair had a blocked catheter and that the problem could have been fixed with a simple procedure.
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“The way it happened, that shouldn’t have happened at all, not to anybody,” said Grant.
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has taken responsibility for Sinclair’s mistreatment.
“While no one person is responsible, it’s clear erroneous assumptions were made and missed opportunities when it came to Sinclair’s care,” the WRHA’s lawyer told the inquest.
Sinclair was a double amputee, homeless and had a speech impediment.
His two brothers, who also have disabilities, watched from the gallery as Ken McGhie, a former chaplin at a local soup kitchen testified.
“Quiet man, never caused any problems, would have soup and coffee,” McGhie said, describing Sinclair.
When Sinclair arrived at HSC on Sept. 19, 2008, he spoke to a security guard, then waited 34 hours before patients alerted staff that Sinclair had died.
The inquest heard Sinclair abused solvents and used the health-care system frequently but the family’s lawyer said, “It was not his demons that killed him, it was the angels, the professionals we all turn to in times of urgent medical need.”
No one can be charged but the inquest will look into what went wrong and how similar deaths can be prevented.
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