Sean Feldsted’s family is calling for a judicial inquest after he died in a Winnipeg hospital with significant malnutrition documented in his autopsy.
The family of a Manitoba man with an intellectual disability is calling for a judicial inquest after he died in hospital with significant malnutrition following years in a Gimli group home.
Sean Feldsted, 54, died Jan. 19, 2024, at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, about a month after his sister, Shelley Shultz, found him frail and emaciated at the home where he had lived for decades. He was six feet tall and weighed 92 pounds when he died, CBC reported.
His autopsy, which Shultz received in February 2026, listed sepsis as the cause of death and malnutrition as a contributing condition. Shultz said she was told the two-year delay in receiving the document was due to staffing shortages at Manitoba’s Chief Medical Examiner’s Office.
“We were in absolute shock — absolute, complete shock,” Shultz told CBC, describing her brother’s appearance when she travelled from British Columbia to see him in December 2023. “He was pure bones.”
Feldsted was mostly non-verbal and had lived in the Gimli home since adulthood. His family helped establish the home so he could receive round-the-clock care after turning 18. Ownership later transferred to Community Bridges, a non-profit that supports people with intellectual disabilities.
After CBC contacted provincial officials, Shultz was given access to an internal investigation by Manitoba’s Provincial Investigation Unit, part of the Department of Families. CBC reported that the investigation found Feldsted was not neglected at the home, but raised concerns about medical followup as his condition worsened.
The report said Community Bridges staff sought help from medical professionals, including an occupational therapist and dietician, and brought Feldsted to hospital multiple times. It also noted he was discharged multiple times from the Gimli hospital between Nov. 14 and Dec. 5, 2023, while continuing to decline from an unknown cause.
A spokesperson for Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said the minister was unavailable for an interview but offered condolences to the family. Fontaine said the department is working to improve communication and information sharing so families have better access to investigations of this kind.
The Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, which includes Gimli, told CBC it could not discuss the specifics of Feldsted’s care. It said the case was not reported as a critical incident, a category used when a patient suffers serious and unintended harm in the health-care system.
Shultz said a judicial inquest is needed to examine gaps in her brother’s care, including how hospitals support substitute decision makers and how terminally ill patients with intellectual disabilities are treated. In Manitoba, inquests are called by the chief medical examiner and heard before a provincial judge. They do not assign blame, but can make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths.
“I think there has been a lot of unfairness placed on the workers at Community Bridges,” Shultz said. “They are not equipped in any way whatsoever to deal with the health crisis that Sean was going through.”
Community Bridges executive director Heather McNeill declined an interview, but said in an emailed statement to CBC that Feldsted’s death is a matter that affects staff, the board and the people the organization serves.
Shultz said she may never know what caused her brother to stop eating or whether his death could have been prevented. She hopes an inquest would help ensure people with intellectual disabilities are treated with dignity when they become seriously ill.
Comments (0)