My take...

... on the death of a man in a Winnipeg ED waiting room.

Although it is terrible shame that this man was not seen for his infection and that he died, he also did not alert anyone that he was requesting medical help.

Emergency department waiting rooms are filled with patients, their family members and friends. To ask a triage nurse or a volunteer to categorize EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the waiting room as a patient/non-patient would be insane. The focus of the triage nurse is to categorize patients that arrive and PRESENT THEMSELVES as patients. They do not have the time to go out and ask every single person there why they are there and if they could possibly need help.

If this is what the government will go to, then PROVIDE THE FUNDING to have some random person walk around and ask people if they need to be seen by a doctor.

And another thing, what about all the other people in the waiting room sitting near this man? Although perhaps not able to assess the patient properly, MOST people can tell if someone is not looking so well.

Again, it's terrible that this man died, but I don't think we can blame the staff in this case.