Death of man waiting for care at Health Sciences Centre ER being investigated as critical incident

The province has ordered a critical incident investigation into the death of a man waiting for care at a Winnipeg hospital emergency room on Tuesday morning, but one doctor says the investigation isn't likely to explore the role factors like discrimination may have played.

The middle-aged man, who hasn't been publicly identified, spent about eight hours waiting to be seen at the Health Sciences Centre emergency department before he died.

"This is a tragedy and a devastating loss that should not have happened," Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference announcing the investigation.

Asagwara said they asked for the death to be investigated as a critical incident, and that it will be treated with the "highest level of urgency."

"We are going to learn from this critical incident review being done and we are going to make sure that we take the necessary steps to prevent this from happening in future," they said.

A critical incident is defined by the province as a case where a patient suffers "serious and unintended harm" while receiving health care. Critical incident reviews involve a report with recommendations on how the system can improve to avoid future incidents.

But Dr. Barry Lavallee, CEO of the Indigenous health organization Keewatinohk Inniniw Minoayawin Inc., said such a report won't examine the role racism and socioeconomic status may have played in the man's death.

No details have been released about the man who died, other than the fact he was middle aged.

But "I don't see a lot of white people dying after eight hours in [the] emergency room," said Lavallee.

The case is already drawing parallels with the death of Brian Sinclair, an Indigenous man who died after languishing for 34 hours in the same ER waiting room in 2008.

When asked by reporters on Wednesday, Asagwara declined to comment on whether the man who died Tuesday was Indigenous or a member of any other vulnerable community.

Lavallee, who was part of a group that explored the role of racism in Sinclair's death, said stereotypes contributed to limiting the treatment he was given despite having a bladder infection that went septic. 

Those stereotypes are still embedded in health care, Lavallee said, and can be "deadly for First Nation people" when mixed with the power of a health-care provider able to decide who receives care and how.

"It's easy to let go of your responsibility when they're considered less in society," he said.