A judge is recommending that Brian Sinclair's family should be entitled to better funding for a lawyer during an upcoming inquest into the man's death.
The province had offered a cap to legal fees at $40,000, but Judge Ray Wyant says because the inquest will be a long, complicated process, that cap isn't enough.
Wyant recommends their lawyer be paid the same as other lawyers at the inquest, at least $210 dollars an hour.
His ruling, however, is not binding on the province.
"We're going to sit down and see if it's reasonable balancing the need for the Sinclair family to be part of this but at the same time protecting the tax payers of Manitoba," says Manitoba's justice minister Andrew Swan.
Brian Sinclair went to the Health Sciences Centre in September 2008 to have his catheter replaced and waited in the emergency room. About 34 hours later, security staff discovered him dead.
Robert Sinclair says he wants answers to ensure that no one else dies the way his cousin Brian died.
Unlike other provinces, Manitoba doesn't have a standing policy outlining what legal fees it covers at inquests. Instead it's decided on a case by case basis.
In the judge's recommendation on Tuesday, he also called on the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority to help cover legal costs since Sinclair died in one of its hospitals. The WRHA says it will review the judge's recommendation before making a commitment.
The inquest was supposed to start in January but has been pushed back and no official start has been announced. It's expected to last more than 50 days.
- with a report from CTV's Stacey Ashley
