The family of a 78-year-old man who died on his doorstep on New Year’s Eve is looking for answers.
They said David Silver was released from Grace Hospital at 1 a.m. on Dec. 31 and sent home in a cab. The taxi dropped him off at his house, but he collapsed before he could make it inside.
“If you go by the place, you can still see a little bit of blood,” said Silver’s cousin, Jack Lichtman. “He lay there for 14 hours, 15 hours.”
Silver was found by a caretaker later that morning and pronounced dead at St. Boniface Hospital.
The family was told Silver died of heart problems.
This is the second Winnipeg death under similar circumstances.
In Jan. 2012, Heather Brenan died on her doorstep after being sent home in a cab from Seven Oaks Hospital.
An inquest was called into her death, but Silver’s family is questioning why this has happened again.
“I think it’s a systemic problem with the nature of what they do in hospitals and how they release their patients,” said Silver’s nephew, Miles Pollock.
Lichtman agrees and said he wants change.
“When they give a chit to a cab driver to drive them home, they [should] make sure the guy gets into the door.”
