October 07, 2013 - 9:26 AM
WINNIPEG - A Winnipeg hospital emergency room was short-staffed when a man who died during a 34-hour wait came in seeking care.
Susan Alcock told an inquest into the death of Brian Sinclair that the emergency room at Health Sciences Centre was short five nurses in September 2007.
She says a nurse who would normally triage patients and reassess their condition while they waited was reassigned when Sinclair first arrived at the hospital on Sept. 19.
Alcock says the reassessment nurse was a position created following the death of another woman in the emergency room in 2003.
Sinclair spoke to a triage aide when he first arrived but died during a subsequent 34-hour wait.
An inquest is examining why the 45-year old double amputee died of a preventable bladder infection without receiving medical care.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013