Police recommend charges in Brian Sinclair hospital death: report
Charges against a Winnipeg hospital and an emergency room staff member are reportedly looming after a year-long police investigation into the death of Brian Sinclair, a wheelchair bound double-amputee Aboriginal man who died after spending 34 hours waiting to see a doctor.
APTN National News
WINNIPEG-Charges against a Winnipeg hospital and an emergency room staff member are reportedly looming after a year-long police investigation into the death of Brian Sinclair, a wheelchair bound double-amputee Aboriginal man who died after spending 34 hours waiting to see a doctor.
It is now up to Manitoba’s Crown attorney’s office to decide whether to go ahead with the charges, according to a report in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Winnipeg police, however, issued a statement Wednesday morning denying the report. The police statement said the investigation had not yet been concluded.
“This investigation has not been concluded and a report has not been forwarded to Manitoba Justice,” said the police statement.
On Sept. 21, 2008, Sinclair, 45, was found dead in the emergency room of Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre from a bladder infection. All he needed was a catheter change and antibiotics to deal with the infection.
An inquest has already been called in Sinclair’s death. Criminal charges would more than likely delay the start of that inquiry which has already been delayed due to the police investigation.
Quoting a Manitoba justice source, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that police recommended a charge of criminal negligence causing death against an emergency room employee and a charge of failing to provide the necessities of life against the Health Sciences Centre.
