An expectant mother and her baby died at the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday morning, triggering an internal probe as well as a demand for answers by her devastated husband.
Luan Rodney, 28, of Meadow Brook, died at 7:50am yesterday, the hospital said, while adding that an investigation has already been launched into the circumstances surrounding her death.
“This is painful because the patient did not die in a primary healthcare facility. This is a major health care facility,” Minister of Health Dr. Bheri Ramsaran later told Stabroek News, while adding that he awaits the report on this case as is required by protocol for all maternity deaths.
At Rodney’s home where her husband Nigel was being comforted amidst shock and sadness, he said he was now left to care for their four-year-old daughter. “I lef here right now childless and wifeless. Now is me and meh daughta lef,” he said, as he expressed disbelief that he had spoken to his healthy wife and a few hours later she was dead.
According to him, his wife was given May 22 as her due date. Since the date had passed, they decided to visit the Georgetown Hospital last Saturday and all appeared well. He noted that his wife never experienced any complications with her pregnancies, except the swelling of her feet
The man explained that after visiting her clinic on Monday, Rodney was referred to the Georgetown Hospital. He said they arrived at the hospital sometime after 8 am and his wife was eventually admitted around 3 pm that day. When asked why the delay, he said that there were other pregnant women there at the time.
“She was waiting so long because they had other patients and I keep asking myself why they taking so long,” he said.
After Rodney was admitted, Nigel spent the 4 to 5.30 pm visiting period with her and he noted that when he left his wife was fine.
According to Nigel, his wife of six years called him sometime after 10 pm on Monday to inform him that they had inserted a tablet into her to induce labour. Around 2 am, her cousin called him and said that Rodney was experiencing labour pains every four minutes. “Suh I said that is good because it near. So, I said I really coming to hold this baby in the morning,” the man noted.
Just after six yesterday morning, Nigel went to take breakfast for his wife at the hospital but he could not find her. When he inquired, he was informed that she was in theatre. He said he did not find this strange because he knew that she was carrying a very large baby because of the size of her belly.
As a result, he left for home. Later, after he dropped their daughter to school, Nigel received a call on his mobile from a man who identified himself as a doctor.
“He said to me that he got something to tell me concerning my wife and if I could come to the hospital,” he said, recalling that he immediately informed his mother and headed to the hospital since he suspected something was wrong.
“The doctor took me into a room and give me the news. They said that when they induced the labour, the baby was so large that when the contractions coming like the uterus [burst] and they say the uterus [burst] big and she had internal bleeding. It was massive bleeding that is what the doctor said to me,” he said, adding that the doctor stated that “with all the bleeding and the blood the baby could not survive.”
Nigel said that based on what was explained to him by the doctor, he got the impression that when his wife was wheeled up to the theatre, she was unconscious. “He (the doctor) said that she never regained consciousness,” he noted.
The man said that he was so shocked that he couldn’t even ask any questions so he left. Later, in the company of a family friend, he returned to the hospital to speak with the doctors further. However, when he arrived he said he was told that “the doctors worked whole night and they was off duty. They said that they would mek some arrangements so we could talk to the doctors tomorrow (today).”
Nigel said that he is not satisfied with the explanation that was given to him about how his wife died and he was suspicious that there may have been negligence in her care.
“…They would tend to you on their own time. I feel she might have been calling for the nurses because if at 2 am you saying you getting four minutes pain it mean you ready…You saying she died eight something. You calculate the time that is very long man,” he said, while noting that he needed to find out in detail what happened between 10 pm when he last spoke to his wife and the time of her death.
“Every single thing was okay. I can’t understand why now I can’t get no wife and no baby. These doctors and these nurses need to be much more careful. This is life you dealing with. Everybody got a story to tell when they go to Georgetown Hospital… some negative something,” he added.
Nigel also said that at the hospital he was only shown the body of his dead daughter, who was lying on a table. “They carry me and they show me the baby but they didn’t show me any wife.
They tell me the body already gone to the mortuary. If they carry the wife why they didn’t carry the baby?” he asked.
Nigel said that calling for a thorough investigation will be a frustrating process. “Asking for a thorough investigation might be a whole headache on a headache. You can’t really tell if everybody telling you the truth or not. I was not there,” he noted.
In recent years, there have been dozens of maternal deaths at public hospitals around the country. In 2010, a staggering 25 such cases were recorded, prompting the then government to implement measures as a means of bringing the numbers down. In 2011 it decreased as 14 maternal deaths were reported. For last year there were at least 11 maternal deaths.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Shamdeo Persaud had told this newspaper during an interview early last year that the findings on some of the maternal deaths indicated that there was laxity on the part of doctors as patients were not managed according to protocol.
