An autopsy has found that Kenya Alleyne, the woman who died a week ago during childbirth at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH), died of cardiac arrest due to a blockage in a heart valve.
Alleyne, 28, of Lot 296 Crane Housing Scheme, succumbed while undergoing a caesarean-section at the WDRH. Her baby girl survived the delivery and is currently being cared for by her maternal grandmother.
In addition to the cause of death, the autopsy also found that Alleyne had an enlarged spleen.
The Health Ministry is currently investigating her death. An official close to the case told Stabroek News that personnel at the ante natal clinics that Alleyne had attended were unaware that she had any underlying illness.
Her family has charged that the death of the mother of three could have been avoided, claiming that although she was scheduled to undergo a C-section the medical personnel treating her delayed it, hoping that she would deliver naturally. She died two days after her admission into hospital as doctors were delivering the baby.
Alleyne had been told at the clinics she attended that she would need a C-section and she was prepared for this eventuality, having already undergone the procedure at the end of her two previous pregnancies.
On December 4, she checked into the WDRH after experiencing excruciating back pain. She was examined by nurses who told her that she was not ready for delivery. “She attended two clinics, the high-risk clinic there at the hospital and the village one. She was healthy yet they keep her in pain since Wednesday checking to see how much fingers (dilatation) she at and telling her she ain’t ready yet,” her sister Roshana Alleyne had told Stabroek News.
