A Berbice man is claiming that a “too tight” bandage around the neck of his 27-year-old son was what caused his death after he underwent surgery for goitre at the New Amsterdam Hospital last month.
Suresh ‘Ajay’ Latchman of Canefield, East Canje, Berbice succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he had been transferred after he appeared to have complications following the surgery.
His father Latchman Rambarran, 54, told Stabroek News that his son initially appeared fine when he came out of the theatre at the New Amsterdam Hospital on November 28 last. He subsequently complained that his throat was being squeezed.
Rambarran said he informed one of the nurses on duty and she responded that she could not “do anything because that was the doctors’ work.” He lamented that his son died because of negligence and said the doctors could have given him oxygen.
Rambarran also said that he learnt that “the nurses were sleeping and another patient had to wake them and tell them that my son was stifling. A police who was guarding a prisoner also had to call them.”
Latchman was taken to the theatre again around 4 am and was in an unconscious state when he came out around 6 am.
He was transferred to the GPH in an ambulance in company of his father.
Rambarran said his son spent half an hour in the theatre and “the doctor told me that they had to shock his heart three times before he catch himself.”
A relative said too that Latchman was having difficulty coughing and that resulted in “some swelling and bleeding.” Rambarran said the post-mortem examination proved that Latchman’s death was as a result of a heart failure and hypothyroidism.
Meanwhile, Public Relations Officer of the Berbice Regional Health Authority (BRHA), Michael Itwaru told this newspaper that officials of the BRHA met Latchman’s family and have mounted a rigorous investigation.
According to him, recommendations were made to the Board of Directors of the BRHA. It may even reach the Ministry of Health for consideration if it cannot be resolved at this level, he said.
Meanwhile, the grieving father said he wanted “to make recommendation for health officials to put close relatives to stay with certain patients to take care of them and have the nurses on their Ps and Qs.”
In frustration, Rambarran told this newspaper, “The nurses asking for 10% increase and they’re not doing their work.”
