WINNIPEG – The surveillance video showing the moment when it’s discovered that Brian Sinclair had died in the Health Sciences Centre emergency room is missing at the inquest into the death.
Sinclair, 45, died from a treatable bladder infection caused by a blocked catheter. He was in the hospital emergency room for 34 hours before a patient discovered he had died while waiting for treatment.
Vilko Zbogar, the Sinclair family’s lawyer, pointed out to witness Det. Sgt. John O’Donovan that six minutes are missing from the video being shown at the inquest. The missing video would show the discovery of Sinclair’s death.
“I never noticed that before,” said O’Donovan, who spent 500 hours viewing and reviewing the footage during the year-long criminal investigation into the death. No charges were laid in connection with the death.
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Global News has a copy of the video and in fact, the time code shows two sections are missing – from 12:47:30 a.m. to 12:53:17 a.m., and from 12:53:40 a.m. to 12:58:11 a.m. on Sept. 21, 2008. Sinclair’s death was discovered during the missing minutes.
It’s not clear whether O’Donovan ever saw those segments of tape.
Sinclair was brought into the emergency room by a taxi driver and spoke to a staff person at the triage desk when he arrived.
During the 34 hours he sat in the hospital, roughly 150 people were triaged.
“He was the only person that didn’t get medical treatment,” O’Donovan testified. “He was ignored during his time there.”
After almost 24 hours, Sinclair vomited three times. Cleaning staff cleaned up the vomit but Sinclair wasn’t checked by medical staff.
“There’s medical staff in and out of the waiting room constantly,” O’Donovan said. “They were aware he had thrown up. He was provided with a basin by a member of the cleaning staff.”
Manitoba’s chief medical examiner has testified Sinclair needed about half an hour of care, including a catheter change and a prescription for antibiotics.
Security guards from the emergency room are scheduled to be the next witnesses.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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