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This article was published 17/9/2010 (3666 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT'S a $1.6-million lawsuit designed to help the family of Brian Sinclair gain some control of efforts to get to the bottom of his death in a Winnipeg hospital emergency room two years ago.

"We can't control the inquest, we can't control the police, but we can control the lawsuit," lawyer Vilko Zbogar said Friday.

MAURICE BRUNEAU PHOTO Brian Sinclair: 34 hours without care

The statement of claim, filed Wednesday, is against the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, WRHA vice-president Brock Wright, the government of Manitoba and 13 individuals, all but one health-care staff working when Sinclair died. The claim was filed by Sinclair's sister, Esther Grant Joyce.

It asks the court to award damages for the "cruel and discriminatory" treatment he received in the hours leading up to his death Sept. 21, 2008, at the Health Sciences Centre emergency room.

Sinclair, an aboriginal man who used a wheelchair, died after he waited 34 hours in the HSC emergency room without being treated for a bladder infection, a condition that required a simple catheter change and antibiotics.

His death made national headlines and raised concerns about the quality of ER care and treatment of aboriginal people.

"For 34 hours, hospital staff callously, recklessly or negligently ignored Brian Sinclair, even as he sat in the hospital waiting room in distress, vomiting, and dying," the 34-page statement of claim says.

"They left him to suffer agony, and gave him no care, treatment, assessment, attention, or necessaries of life. As a result, he died."

A statement of defence has not been filed as defendants were only served Friday.

Manitoba's chief medical examiner, Dr. Thambirajah Balachandra, said Sinclair's death could have been prevented if the blood infection had been treated.

He announced in February 2009 that an inquest would be held, but no date has been set.

The claim also alleges the WRHA tried to cover up the story of Sinclair's death.

"As part of its efforts to control the story, cover up certain facts, deflect attention from its own wrongdoing, and mitigate the burgeoning political embarrassment that the scandal was causing for the WRHA and government of Manitoba, WRHA, through its officer Brock Wright and others, falsely asserted to the media that Brian Sinclair never approached the triage desk and never made medical staff aware of his need for assistance," the claim says.

"They implied that it was Brian Sinclair's own fault for being left to die for 34 hours in the emergency room of a major Canadian hospital."

Sinclair, a 45-year-old double leg amputee, in fact approached the triage desk shortly after his arrival.

The Sinclair family and its lawyers are also currently involved in a fight over legal fees. Sinclair's family claims WRHA is in breach of its statutory obligation to assist them. They want the courts to order WRHA to disclose how much public money it is spending on its own legal team.

Justice Minister Andrew Swan has capped the amount Sinclair's family will get for legal fees before and during the upcoming inquest at $110,000.

The family's lawyers have said that without knowing what the WRHA is paying its lawyers, it appears the family will not get meaningful participation in the inquest.

The family also demanded a full public inquiry into the matter, but the province has rejected that request.

They also asked for a police criminal investigation into Sinclair's death, but Zbogar said police haven't started an investigation. A police spokesman said the matter is still before the police service.

The lawsuit was filed under Manitoba's Fatal Accidents Act. Damages under the act are limited to $30,000 to the spouse of the deceased and $10,000 to each other family member of the deceased.

However, in the claim Sinclair's estate is seeking $1.1 million and other special damages as they allege his charter rights were violated by the hospital in the hours before his death.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca