The Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) is refuting claims published in the Tuesday edition of the Kaieteur News that a couple’s twin boys died as a result of negligence.
In a press release the GPHC said the article, captioned `Couple claims doctor’s negligence killed their twin boys’ contained several erroneous statements and it is disappointed that the paper did not seek clarification on the issue before publication.
The hospital said an investigation of the case revealed that Tandica Williams had been admitted to the Pre-natal Unit of the Maternity Ward on Saturday at about 11 pm after her water bag broke. She was seven and a half months pregnant and the babies were deemed premature. According to the release, Williams informed the attending physician that she had not had an ultrasound prior to her visit to the hospital and there was no evidence to show that the woman had been attending Ante-natal Clinic.
During her examination it was observed that Williams was “bleeding at touch”; an indication that the placenta was low-lying and would come before the babies, the release said, adding that this was “a life threatening situation that warranted immediate surgery in order to save [her] life.” The hospital said that it was only during surgery that doctors became aware that Williams was pregnant with twins. “However, the first baby was delivered macerated or decomposed in the uterus (already deceased and only soft tissues existed),” and the second baby was born with congenital birth defect.
The child was subsequently transferred to the Neo-natal unit as he had been experiencing distressed breathing and there was evidence of deformity of his right ribs. Contrary to reports in the Kaieteur News the hospital said the child was never removed from the incubator as he had been receiving oxygen. “Secondly, blood samples were taken with the intention of performing a transfusion, however, the baby died shortly after,” it said. The GPHC also said Williams could not have heard the doctor telling a nurse that, “one of the babies was going to live and the other was going to die” for had been stillborn. It said too staff made every effort to save the life of the second baby by applying resuscitation techniques for almost two hours before it was decided to stop.
The management of the GPHC is inviting the couple to identify those officials who told the children’s father that the babies’ deaths were due to negligence, as well as the individuals who gave him the “royal run-around.” As regard a post-mortem examination, the hospital said these are only performed when a death is unclear to doctors and/or is requested by relatives that a doctor orders such an examination. The hospital extended condolences to the relatives of the deceased.
