Review into death of man waiting for care at Health Sciences ER expected to take at least 3 weeks: minister
Autopsy results expected by the end of next week in review of Jan. 7 death of Chad Christopher Giffin, 49
The province says it will be at least three weeks before the critical incident investigation into the death of a man who was waiting for care at Manitoba's largest hospital is completed.
Chad Christopher Giffin, 49, died on Jan. 7, after waiting about eight hours to be seen at the Health Sciences Centre's emergency room.
The province announced on Jan. 8 that his death would be investigated as a critical incident, defined as a case where a patient suffers "serious and unintended harm" while receiving health care.
"Critical incident reviews do take time," Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said at that point, but they promised when the review is complete, the province will be "transparent and open with the public in terms of the findings, what we learn from this, so we can prevent this from happening in future."
In a Friday update on the status of that review, Asagwara said autopsy results, including the toxicology report, are expected by the end of next week, and Giffin's family will be notified as soon as the report is ready.
It's expected the critical incident investigation will take at least two weeks to conclude after Shared Health gets those results, Asagwara said in a statement Friday.
Critical incident reviews involve a report with recommendations on how the system can improve to avoid future incidents.
"This patient died without the dignity and compassion every Manitoban has a right to receive at the end of their life," said the statement from Asagwara, which did not identify Giffin by name.
"Our government has an obligation to him, his family and all Manitobans to respond to this failing and take action to improve health care."
After Asagwara's statement was released Friday afternoon, Giffin's sister, Ronalee Reynolds, said she is grateful the investigation is proceeding much more quickly than the family was initially led to expect.
"I also understand that the people in charge want to get the answers too, in hopes to make changes where they need to," she wrote in a text message to CBC News.
"I want to be clear that the expedited process was their decision. It had nothing to do with our family. I strongly believe that we are no more deserving or important than anyone else waiting for autopsy results," Reynolds said.