The grandmother of 25-year-old Monica Carmichael, who died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on Wednesday afternoon after a still-birth, last evening blamed negligence for her granddaughter’s death and called on the authorities to launch a full-fledged investigation.
“I feel very hurt and very sad about her death and I am saying is negligence that make her die like that,” Avril Carmichael said.
Carmichael of Lot 369 Number 30 Village, West Coast Berbice, who was the second woman to die at the institution in just over two days, was transferred to the facility from the New Amsterdam Hospital on Friday night and had delivered a still-born baby girl.
The hospital told relatives that the young woman suffered three seizures and the medical personnel were unable to revive her the third time.
“I know that things do happen but this happening too steady and something needs to be done,” Carmichael said in reference to the number of maternal deaths that have occurred recently.
She said she found it strange that her granddaughter died after she sounded strong on the phone when they spoke on Wednesday, hours before she passed away.
“I don’t intend to take it so. I am going all out. This must stop, I am going to be writing letters to all them newspaper and everywhere else,” the grieving woman told Stabroek News.
She said the young woman, who was her son’s child, grew up with her.
“The mother has a nervous problem and she can’t take this death. I had to take care of the mother because like how Monica was pregnant she couldn’t look at her mother. The mother can’t take this at all,” the grandmother said.
Meanwhile, the hospital in a statement said its management “is again saddened by yet another maternal death but wishes to reassure the general public that all measures are being employed by medical and nursing staff to allow for the preservation of the lives of its patients.”
The statement said members of the Maternal Mortality Committee have already launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Carmichael, the results of which will be made available to management upon its completion.
‘Good spirits’
A grieving cousin of Carmichael, Vanessa, told Stabroek News yesterday morning that the young mother died hours after she had left her “in good spirits and talking good, good”.
Vanessa said Carmichael was taken to the operating theatre on Tuesday afternoon, more than two days after she was told that her baby had died inside of her. She was not returned to the ward until Wednesday morning.
Vanessa said some time last week, Carmichael, who was scheduled to give birth early next month, indicated that she was feeling pain and “like the baby deh turning up but she said she would wait until her clinic day on Friday.” She said when Carmichael left her home last week Friday for the New Amsterdam Hospital clinic she was bleeding.
“After she left and I see she didn’t come back home in the afternoon I call she and she tell me how she get admit because she pressure high,” Vanessa said.
She said she continued to communicate with her cousin via phone and later in the night she indicated that she was being transferred to the GPH because the pressure remained too high. The family kept in contact with the young woman when she arrived at the GPH and a friend was also visiting her.
“I call she Saturday afternoon and as soon as she answer I know something wrong and I ask,” Vanessa said. “She ain’t want answer but I keep asking she wuh happen and then she tell me that de doctor do a ultrasound and de baby dead inside she.”
Vanessa said Carmichael was not convinced that her baby was dead as she kept insisting that she was feeling movement but her grandmother told her “to let dem take out the baby to save she life”.
However, it was not until Tuesday afternoon that the young woman was taken to the theatre. The friend who had been visiting, waited for her the entire Tuesday afternoon, but while other persons were wheeled out of the theatre Carmichael remained and the friend received no information on her condition. Because she was in the theatre, relatives were also unable to make contact with her on the phone.
Vanessa said she arrived at GPH around 10 am on Wednesday and shortly after Carmichael was brought out of the theatre.
“She was talking and so on and she tell me the cut hurting like it pulling and she back hurting too but I tell she not to worry how things guh be alright when she come out,” Vanessa said.
At the time an uncle was also visiting and Vanessa said they left around 2 pm because they had to attend a funeral.
“But I keep calling she all at the church I calling and I didn’t getting any answer and we become worried,” she said.
It was not until after 6 pm that a woman answered the phone and identified herself as a nurse. Vanessa was asked if she was related to Carmichael and when she said she was a cousin, the nurse informed her that someone should visit the hospital immediately.
“She tell me how something bad happen and I keep asking she what but she just keep saying that something bad happen and somebody should come,” Vanessa said. “I hear other people in the background telling she that she can’t give out information over de phone and she tell me again how she can’t tell me what happen on the phone.”
Vanessa said they immediately realized that Carmichael had died and their worst fears were confirmed when an uncle and other relatives visited the hospital around 10 pm on Wednesday.
Vanessa said Carmichael’s death was shocking because her cousin appeared to be quite alright when she left her on Wednesday afternoon; even as she questioned the length of time she had spent in the theatre. She said she was told that there were no beds in the c-section ward and that was why Carmichael had to be kept in the theatre overnight.
A post-mortem examination is expected to be performed.
The death of Carmichael, who was the mother of a four-year-old girl, came on the heels of another death at the very hospital. Thirty-eight-year-old Marion Bristol of 47 Miles, Mabura Road, in Region Ten succumbed on Monday night shortly after she had delivered a baby girl.
Carmichael became the eighth maternal death in the country since September and these occurred at the GPH and the New Amsterdam and Skeldon Hospitals. Health authorities had said earlier that the maternal deaths were so far not out of line with the norms. Nevertheless Cabinet recently ordered a sub-committee to address the matters and many in the public have questioned the quality of care administered to some of the patients.
