The Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) has suggested that Pamela Lashley, whose 12-pound baby died during delivery, is suffering from post-partum depression or psychosis and indicated its willingness to provide counselling to her.
“There appears to be an issue of post-partum depression or psychosis being suffered by this patient and management is willing to provide counseling service to Ms Lashley, as improving people’s health, both physical and psychological, is [our] primary concern, GPH said in its ‘final statement” on the case, after a Stabroek News article about the patient’s decision to refuse a meeting with GPH’s administration.
Lashley, 32, of Victoria, East Coast Demerara, had told Stabroek News that she was forced to deliver her infant son vaginally on June 8. The woman said she was convinced her baby died of a broken neck he sustained after his head protruded before she was taken to the delivery room. It was the second such case reported at the hospital in less than two weeks.
Lashley had also claimed that the hospital buried her child, even after she refused to sign documents which would allow the state to do so and that she was refused an autopsy.
A relative of the woman told this newspaper that because of her poor health, they have opted to no longer pursue the matter. The relative also said that they visited two times after her discharge in hopes of claiming the baby’s body, only to be told that a poor burial was performed.
But the hospital, in its statement yesterday, indicated that the infant’s body remains at the hospital’s mortuary but if not collected in one month, will be
It expressed astonishment that Lashley would no longer engage hospital. According to the release, management of the GPH found it shocking that she refused to meet and address the matter with the relevant persons, if she and/or her relatives were confident in the statements they made.
The doctor who spoke with the patient about her condition on admission, in addition to the nurses who were present during and after delivery, were scheduled to be present with management to clarify these claims and what actually transpired, the release said.
“It is felt that if these individuals genuinely desired to resolve this matter, they would have asked that the meeting [be] deferred to a later date or suggested that another relative attends,” the hospital said.
In addition to this, the hospital has accused this newspaper of failing to make contact with its officers for a comment on the case, while saying there appeared to be a personal vendetta against the hospital. However, prior to the publication of the initial story on June 13, Stabroek News made efforts to contact the Public Relations Manager, Alero Proctor, who failed to respond.
