Delays in care linked to 5 Manitoba deaths: report

The province’s latest critical incident report identified five deaths as being linked to health-care delays. CTV’s Jeff Keele explains.

Health care delays were behind five deaths in the province from April to September of last year, according to Manitoba’s latest critical incident reports.

The reports show of the 59 critical incidents reported during this six-month time frame, 16 resulted in death. Of these 16 deaths, five were linked to health-care delays.

This includes two patients who experienced delays in response to their medical conditions, two patients who experienced delays in accessing care, and one patient who experienced a delay in treatment.

Sherri Ross’s sister Stacy waited 11 hours at the St. Boniface Hospital emergency room in January when she suffered cardiac arrest and died. The case was deemed a critical incident. Ross questions why this is happening.

“How many people have to die before there’s change,” Ross told CTV News.

Manitoba Nurses Union President Darlene Jackson blames staffing shortages and wait times.

“Unfortunately when wait times rise, and patients wait longer for care, these incidents happen,” Jackson said.

According to data from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, median monthly wait times fluctuate, but are trending in the wrong direction according to a chart that tracks median emergency department wait times going back before the pandemic. A high of 4.22 hours was reached in February of this year. St. Boniface’s emergency department topped the list at 7.42 hours.

The NDP government said, since taking office, they have added more than four thousand new health care workers to the front lines.

In a statement, Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said they are taking action to improve the system.

“That work includes increasing staffing, improving patient flow and reducing wait times, all of which are essential to improving patient safety. Initiatives like better staffing levels and clearer standards of care are part of that effort, but there is no single solution. This is ongoing work,” Asagwara wrote.

Previous critical incident reports show there was one death linked to a delay in care in the first quarter of 2025. This brings the total number for the first nine months of 2025 to six.

However, this is not a new issue. There were 13 deaths related to delays in care recorded in 2023 and 2024 .

Critical incident reports outline serious but unintended harms experienced by patients using the province’s health-care system. Experts review each incident and make recommendations on system improvements.

The full reports are available online.

• With files from Jeff Keele