The doctor implicated in the case of an 18-year-old mother of two, who died six months ago as a result of injuries she sustained during a botched abortion, has denied all involvement
Meanwhile, the doctor was indeed registered under the Guyana Medical Council but had not acquired his licence for 2011 to perform termination of pregnancies.
“The actions that were implemented as regards the actual practice of the medical practitioner allegedly involv-ed in this incident were to review his data of registration to practice and to perform that and he was registered as a medical practitioner. There was a lapse in the doctor acquiring his license for the year 2011 to perform termination of pregnancies under another bit of legislation which is the ‘Termination of Pregnancy Act,” Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shamdeo Persaud told Stabroek News during a recent interview.
Karen Badal of Lot 2 North Vigilance, East Coast Demerara, was four months pregnant when she died as a result of a perforated uterus and acute peritonitis on December 30, 2011.
Persaud stated that the doctor has denied all involvement in the matter. He explained that the case will have to be taken before the court, and the judge, after investigations with the committee, will make a decision.
With regard to the practices of the Medical Council, Persaud stated that the organization examines only two types of offences; malpractice and misconduct. The committee, he noted, is yet to determine which of these has occurred in the case of Karen Badal.
The CMO explained that malpractices usually entail the actual practice of medicine, wrong prescription and inadequate surgery procedures while misconduct is usually the way in which patients are treated.
He noted that once that is determined, there are some courses of action that the Medical Council can take in accordance with the law. The doctor can be reprimanded, be given a warning; censored, be placed under some amount of supervisory work so that s/he retains his/her license; suspended—given a period of time off and the council has to seek the minister’s concurrence; or lastly, the medical council can take decisive action and strike the doctor off the medical register.
Persaud stated that the matter had the attention of a number of bodies, including the Ministry of Health and the legal authority regarding the practice of medicine which is the Guyana Medical Council after information on the teen’s death became widespread.
“We were informed of this death and subsequently findings that were reviewed of the post-mortem examination and all that information was sent to the medical council and I think it is still engaging the medical council,” he said.
The CMO noted that according to the regulations of the ‘Medical Practitioner Act’, the disciplinary committee should consist of a sitting judge, who is appointed by the Chief Justice. There is one such person, along with the relevant persons of the Medical Council. “We have selected someone who represents civil society and the clients and public really along with one of our general medical doctors… Those three persons are looking at this matter,” he asserted.
Persaud further explained the ‘Termination of Pregnancy Act’ which he said requires a number of steps to be taken. He stated that the pregnant mother who has requested such a termination has to be given 48 hours to consider her decision to terminate the pregnancy and as such, pre and post-termination counselling must be offered. Secondly, the termination of pregnancy must, under the law, be performed only by registered medical practitioners who are licensed additionally to terminate pregnancies. Persaud added that these licences are issued by the Medical Council of Guyana on the recommendation of the Chief Medical Officer who has to ensure that that person is correctly trained in the procedures of termination of pregnancies.
“In the past, we had some arrangements with a number of persons operating here like the Family Planning Association of Guyana to train doctors in terminating pregnancies using approved measures and the approved method is one called the vacuum extraction measures, not to use any instrument that would put a risk to the mother’s life,” he said.
In addition to this, the termination of pregnancy must be performed at a facility that is certified by the CMO for such procedure. He noted that annually, applications are made to his office and it is customary for him to visit and ensure that it is adequate for the patient’s privacy, safety and good compliance of standards of care and also that the level of sterilities are maintained and that there is no harm that can result from this.
“There are emergency facilities available in the event that, you can give someone an injection and that person collapses and needs to be resuscitated, so any procedure that requires some level of manipulation have risks that we sometimes don’t always anticipate so the facilities must be able to respond to an emergency meaning that there must be facilities for oxygen, to set up infusion and so on,” the CMO added.
Relatives of Badal had previously expressed great hope that the doctor responsible for the death of the young mother would pay his dues before the legal system of Guyana but had opined that they are not confident that justice will prevail because of the slow progress in this matter.
