Although Corinne Greene, 53, was among 11 field workers at the Uitvlugt Estate to be attacked by bees on March 31, she was the only one who succumbed.
Greene, of Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara, sustained almost 40 bee stings and developed high blood pressure as well as a stroke. She was never able to walk again and died on April 9 at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH).
Her husband, Marlon Greene, a miner, is disappointed that although his wife and the other workers were attacked while on duty, GuySuCo does not want to take responsibility for her death.
He said his wife, who worked in the Creole [fertilizer] gang, was attached to the estate for over 23 years. In spite of that, management was showing no concern because her cause of death was given as Hypertensive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.
He lamented: “If my wife was not attacked by those bees, she would have been alive today… all I’m looking for is justice….”
He said too that his wife was strong and healthy and very hardworking and it was difficult for the family to come to terms with her death.
The woman was first taken to the Leonora Cottage Hospital, where she was treated and sent away two hours later.
But her daughter, Ashanna, said that around 5:30 PM the same day, she was on her way back from Georgetown when she received a call and was informed that her mother’s condition had worsened.
“She was unable to walk and she was vomiting and defecating and she had a slight attack of stroke,” she said.
Greene was immediately rushed to the WDRH.
Her husband, who was in the interior at the time, happened to call home that evening and learnt that Greene was hospitalised as a result of the attack. He did not realise that her condition was so serious until three days later when his daughter advised him to return home urgently.
When he visited her at the hospital, he was shocked to find her lying in bed disabled. He consulted the doctors and a CT scan was subsequently done.
One doctor told him that the scan showed that there was a slight mass, while another said that he “found clot blood.” The doctor also told him that there was a possibility that his wife would walk again.
He was distressed at the unprofessional manner in which the health care workers handled his wife as well as the relatives when they tried to get them to assist her.
He recalled that they were at her bedside during the 4PM visit when she started having difficulty breathing.
He said they called out to the nurses and a “young doctor who was there and the nurse told us that my wife was doing the same thing yesterday.”
It was not until they noticed that Corrine “was not catching her breath” that they tried to administer oxygen. “But it didn’t work and my wife never received the oxygen,” he said sadly.
