No heads to roll over ER foul-up

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This article was published 11/02/2009 (6443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority changed its tune on Brian Sinclair’s tragic death for the third time in a week and is now saying the fact that the double-amputee approached the triage desk is "irrelevant."

Board officials admitted Tuesday they "messed up" by failing to care for Sinclair, and that chief medical officer Dr. Brock Wright misspoke last week when he left the false impression Sinclair never formally presented himself to triage.

But officials paid little attention to the public outcry following the revelation that Sinclair wheeled up to the emergency triage line seeking care.

WRHA vice-chairman Allan Fineblit said the fact that Sinclair was or wasn’t in the triage line "doesn’t matter" and is not an important detail.

Fineblit said the board determined Wright did not deliberately mislead the public, and has complete confidence in Wright’s and WRHA CEO Dr. Brian Postl’s ability to manage the health-care system.

The WRHA’s board of directors met Tuesday morning to examine the explanation of Sinclair’s 34-hour wait in the Health Sciences Centre (HSC) emergency room after a week of intense public scrutiny and calls for the resignation of Wright and Postl.

Wright ignited political uproar when he maintained Sinclair never formally presented himself to the emergency room triage desk, despite video evidence from hospital security. One day later, Wright watched the videos and admitted Sinclair did approach the triage desk for care.

"From our perspective it’s irrelevant whether he approached the desk or not," Fineblit said. "We have ownership once he walks through the door and it’s our responsibility to ensure he gets the treatment he’s entitled to. We failed in that responsibility."

"We failed, we messed up, we’re sorry," said board chairman Dr. John Wade.

The statements came the same day the board denied a request from Health Minister Theresa Oswald to publicize the details of the WRHA’s internal administrative review prior to an inquest that has been ordered into Sinclair’s death.

Oswald came under fire Monday for admitting she’s known since late October that Sinclair approached the triage desk for care — a key detail she never publicized in the days after his death.

Oswald said the fact that Sinclair approached the triage desk seeking care was included in the findings of the WRHA’s administrative review — a report she read one month after Sinclair was found dead in the HSC emergency room.

Wade said an outside legal expert recommended against publicizing the details, saying it’s better that the truth come out in full in the inquest.

Minutes later, Fineblit revealed a new detail — the triage aide who spoke with Sinclair doesn’t remember that encounter, and notes written on a clipboard after the interaction were thrown away.

"The triage aide has no recollection of that encounter and the triage clipboard notes are not preserved," he said, adding, "I think the worst possible thing that could happen is for bits of information to come out… It’s very important we get this right."

Premier Gary Doer said the province looked at releasing information about the death, but decided it could not overrule legal advice to the WRHA to withhold those details until the inquest.

"I have to keep the big picture," he said. "So does the minister (Oswald). Simply, this is a tragedy. It shouldn’t have happened."

Doer also rejected calls from Tory leader Hugh McFadyen for Oswald’s head.

On Tuesday, McFadyen said Oswald failed to set the record straight when she knew Sinclair did, in fact, approach the triage desk.

"They’ve gone and painted a false picture of what happened," McFadyen said. "They’ve got to correct the record."

McFadyen said during the Sinclair affair the NDP government released "selected facts" to give the impression no one in the ER knew Sinclair needed medical help.

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca

— With files from Bruce Owen