Family, SCO call for review of Dauphin hospital protocols after death of nine-year-old with broken arm

The family of a nine-year-old girl who died in March is calling for a review of the Manitoba hospital where she was treated for a broken arm, alleging she did not receive adequate care.

Mary Bull-Sinclair died at her grandmother’s home in O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation on March 21. The cause of her death has not been determined, but her family believes it was the result of complications from a broken arm she suffered five days earlier, her uncle Burton Flett said during a news conference Monday.

“Our family deserves a full understanding of what happened,” he said.

Flett said his niece was injured in a tobogganing accident and transported to the Dauphin Regional Health Centre on March 16.

The girl was released with her arm in a sling, despite her mother’s questions as to whether the arm should have been in a cast. She was not assessed by a doctor during the visit, and her family said they were not provided with a plan for followup care.

Her pain became “unmanageable” over the following days, and her family again called for an ambulance on March 19. She returned to the Dauphin hospital — about 125 kilometres away — early the following day and received a new sling before being discharged, Flett said.

“Mary was crying, and so was her mother. She wanted to go back to the hospital. Her mother was at a loss at what to do,” he said. “They didn’t know what to do after being sent home from the hospital two times.”

The family noticed discolouration on the child’s chest on March 21. They found she had fallen asleep on her broken arm, and soon realized her fingers were turning purple and fluid was leaking from her mouth and nose, Flett said.

Jerry Daniels, grand chief of the Southern Chiefs Organization, said the Office of the Medical Examiner is investigating the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death. Her family has agreed to an in-depth autopsy and additional testing.

Daniels called for an examination of protocols followed by health-care staff who treated the child, and whether systemic barriers contributed to her death.

“Her life mattered. We owe it to her memory to ensure that every question is examined carefully and that any lessons arising from this tragedy help protect other children and families in the future,” he said in a news release.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca