Manitoba doctor had no choice, sent man to hospital waiting room where he died

WINNIPEG – A physician who first assessed the health of a Winnipeg man says she had no choice but to send him to a hospital emergency room where he eventually died during a 34-hour wait.

Dr. Marnie Waters told an inquest into Brian Sinclair’s death that she examined the double-amputee back in September 2008.

She says he wheeled himself to the clinic from a homeless shelter when he hadn’t urinated in 24 hours.

Waters says Sinclair needed his catheter changed, but a clinic nurse said she couldn’t do it at the downtown practice.

Waters says she sent Sinclair to the Health Sciences Centre with a letter outlining his condition.

Sinclair went to the emergency room but died during a 34-hour wait for care without being examined by medical staff.