Sister of man who died waiting at Winnipeg ER feels relief, some closure after hearing from officials

The sister of a man who died while waiting for care at a Winnipeg emergency room says his family is feeling relief, and some closure, after speaking with health officials to learn some details about what happened that day.

Officials said on Tuesday a middle-aged man had died after waiting about eight hours to be seen at Health Sciences Centre.

Ronalee Reynolds said she was contacted by the hospital Friday morning with confirmation that man was her brother, 49-year-old Chad Christopher Giffin.

She told CBC on Friday her family was left with many questions — including why he was brought to hospital by ambulance but assessed as low acuity, and what caused his death.

But in a call later Friday, Dr. Shawn Young, HSC's chief operating officer, told her what he could about her brother, and that the hospital is looking into what kind of monitoring he received that night.

She was also contacted later Friday by Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, who expressed his condolences to the family.

"We've got closure now," she told CBC on Saturday. "We aren't worried. We aren't wondering." 

Young told Reynolds that Giffin, who was well known by emergency room staff at HSC, had been picked up by an ambulance near the Salvation Army, after someone called 911 because he was outside and looked cold. 

He arrived at the hospital just after midnight and was declared dead in a resuscitation room just before 8 a.m., after staff noticed his condition had worsened.

Reynolds said Giffin had "a lot of underlying health issues," but doesn't know yet if his death was related in any way to his medical history, or if something had happened before he got to the hospital. 

Officials have said Giffin's death will be investigated as a critical incident, defined by the province as a case where a patient suffers "serious and unintended harm" while receiving health care.

Hopes for changes to family notification

Reynolds hopes that review leads to improvement around how notifications to family are made when someone dies. 

She told CBC News Friday her brother had estranged himself from their family for close to a decade. The last time she was aware of exactly where he was staying was in 2018. She was notified he'd been reported missing after walking away from the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, where she said he'd been taken several times. 

During a sentencing hearing in 2020 following a run-in with the law, court heard Giffin was homeless and often slept in shelters.

Reynolds said when she first made inquiries on Wednesday, after being contacted by CBC News about an incident involving her brother, the medical examiner's office told her someone with her brother's name and date of birth had died. It wasn't until Friday that the hospital confirmed he was the man who had died at the ER.

Reynolds was told her brother was under care of the public guardian and trustee because of his mental illness and addictions, and that he had told the examiner's office he had no next of kin. 

However, she said that office had previously been in touch with her when he'd gone missing from the Selkirk Mental Health Centre.

Reynolds believes her brother would've had the public guardian and trustee listed as his emergency contact, but that the office's records would've said Giffin had no next of kin. 

She said Saturday that if the hospital contacted the public trustee first, the trustee may have tried to reach her mother at phone numbers that aren't in service anymore. 

"It seems like they didn't think about how the last time the public trustee had our information, how long ago was that," she said.

"There's a lot of different ways people can be located" now, she said, including social media. "I feel confident they have learned … 'We can't just take what's been on file, there's other ways we can try and find people.'" 

Family has some answers, waiting for more

In the wake of her brother's death, Reynolds wonders if a facility for people who are homeless and have mental health issues could have helped her brother — somewhere where medical support, such as a physician on call, is also available.

 Al Wiebe, an advocate for people experiencing homelessness, said safe overnight warming spaces could be an alternative for people who might otherwise go to hospital ERs to warm up. 

"There's a lack of 24/7 warming spaces," said Wiebe. "That's a big problem." 

Some people also may not be able to access shelters, or choose not to use them because of bad experiences there, while a hospital might be considered a safe space, he said.

"It is probably the safest place in the whole city, as shelters are not safe spaces," said Wiebe.

He said he understands that having more 24/7 warming spaces would come with costs, including security costs, but maintains they're a "real need in the city." 

Meanwhile, Reynolds said for a long time, her family wondered how her brother was doing, and if he was still even in Manitoba. 

They now have answers to some of those questions, she said, but hope to have more as the investigation into his death unfolds. 

"He's at rest and he's not suffering," she said. "It's just really, really nice to have that closure and knowing that he's OK now."