The exhuming of the body of a north west woman has led to claims that she had been buried alive while heavily pregnant.
Relatives of the woman from Karaiaba River, five miles from Mabaruma, North West District believe that she was buried alive after being given an injection that caused her to sleep.
They said that when pathologists from Georgetown exhumed the body several days after her death, a dead foetus was discovered in the coffin. She had not given birth prior to her death.
Florence Carol John, a 38-year-old mother of seven was pronounced dead, allegedly by a nurse, at the Maburama Hospital on January 27. Earlier she was on her way to be evacuated to Georgetown but she was returned to the medical institution after her condition had worsened. She was eight months pregnant.
Contacted yesterday a medex at the hospital told Stabroek News that the report that the woman was buried alive was untrue. She explained that gas and toxins in the body would cause the foetus to be expelled from a decaying body. She confirmed that the foetus was still in the woman’s womb when she was buried. She also informed this newspaper that it was pathologists from Georgetown who exhumed the body.
She then stated that she could not give any more information on the case and as such the Ministry of Health should be contacted.
Four of the woman’s sisters are questioning the circumstances under which Florence died and are seeking answers as they are of the opinion that the woman might have been in a coma when she was buried.
As a result of this they spoke to members of the media in the city about their situation.
Genevieve Joseph told the media that on January 26, her sister and husband Lennox Williams went to their farm and picked greens and cut cane. She said while there her sister slipped and almost fell. Joseph said that they later went back to their home and her sister carried out her normal household chores.
The family, she said, went to bed around 10 pm but Florence woke up around midnight with a terrible pain in her stomach. Because of her fragile state, her husband took her to a medex in the area.
“When she husband carry her there, the medex said that he couldn’t handle the situation and she got to go to Maburuma Hospital”.
Joseph stated that he
followed the medex’s instruction and his wife was admitted. The woman said that she was told that while in hospital Florence was complaining of intense pain and a nurse gave her an injection. The woman stated that apparently the injection was to put her to sleep
Due to her situation it was decided that the pregnant woman should be air-dashed to the Georgetown Hospital later that morning. However, Joseph said, while Florence was on her way to catch the plane it discovered that she couldn’t make it and as such she was returned to the Mabaruma Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
When the husband arrived there, she said he was told to take the body home, which was one hour away by motorboat.
She stated that her sister and her undelivered baby were buried two Sundays ago at Wauna also in the North West.
Because of the schedule of the ferry the sisters arrived at Karaiaba on Thursday. Joseph stated that prior to their arrival she received word that unknown persons from Georgetown went to do a post mortem (PM).
She said that two boys went to her father’s home on Wednesday morning and told him that he had to be at the burial site at 4 pm to exhume the body so that a PM could be done.
“Me father, Florence father-in-law and an aunt were there. My father had to take out the body from the coffin. When he opened it there was the baby boy lying on her belly. He then put them on a tomb and the men cut open her belly took out what they wanted then cut open the baby’s belly and took out what they wanted”.
The visibly upset Joseph stated that the bodies were left in a mess and it was her father who had to place them back into the tomb. After this she said Lennox, her sister’s husband had to find $12,000 to seal back the tomb.
Because of limited time she said, they were unable to talk yesterday with the police and hospital officials.
Stabroek News was told that the dead woman never had complications during her previous pregnancies and had delivered her second child at that very hospital.
