– grandmother calls for probe
A woman whose grandson’s arm was broken when he was delivered at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) is horrified at the incident and wants action to be taken.
Carla Adams told this newspaper that she took her daughter, Carlecia Adams, 17, to the GPH on October 16. She said that early the next day, Sunday, her daughter delivered a baby boy. She called her at around 9 am, Adams recalled. “I asked her how is the child and she said everything was okay except something was wrong with the child arm.” Adams said that the boy’s right arm was broken between his shoulder and elbow.
However, she said, when her daughter reported that there seemed to be something wrong with the baby’s arm, the nurse told her that when the doctor came, she should relate the problem. On the following day – the Monday – when the doctor went to do the check-up, he said that the baby’s arm was fractured and ordered an x-ray, Adams said. She related that the x-ray showed that the arm was broken. A cast was placed on the arm that very day.
According to Adams, last Thursday when her daughter was discharged, the nurses in the ward asked the delivery room nurse whether she had delivered Carlecia’s baby. Adams said that the nurse responded in the negative, and then said that she couldn’t remember. However, she said, a confrontation was held with Carlecia and the nurse and the nurse admitted that she had delivered the baby.
Adams said her daughter told her that the delivery nurse had asked another nurse to assist as she was “fighting to get the child out with her hands”. She said that the delivery nurse said that the child was in a certain position and she was trying to pull the child out. But Adams said, the other nurses told the delivery nurse that the child’s arm was not supposed to break. She pointed out that it was very troubling that the nurse looked after the baby after he was delivered and did not recognise that anything was wrong. She said that the baby’s arm was swelling after the delivery but despite this the doctor was not summoned urgently.
“I just hoping for the child to be healed,” Adams said while questioning who was responsible. “It has to be investigated and addressed,” she said while noting that she was told nothing about whether an investigation would be done. “Who is going to be responsible and what action is going to be taken?” she questioned adding that the nurses are supposed to be observant. She said she was told to make a report to a hospital official but when she went to the office, she was told that the official was on leave.
This newspaper contacted the hospital’s public relations officer, Alero Proctor and she said she would need the full facts before she would be able to comment.
She promised, however, that she would look into it. She also pointed out that there is always someone on duty to whom complaints can be made.
