The Port Mourant doctor who was under probe following a “wind” misdiagnosis, reportedly claimed during the investigation that the patient displayed no abnormal signs and had not complained of experiencing pain.
The investigation that was launched after a Corentyne resident diagnosed with wind pain at the Port Mourant Hospital had to undergo emergency intestinal surgery at the Georgetown Public Hospital the next day, has since been completed.
The patient, Oneil Jordan, 32, of Kiltairn Village, Corentyne was diagnosed with a Perforated Hollow Viscus (ruptured gastrointestinal wall) by doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on April 9.
Jordan is still hospitalised at the city hospital in a stable condition and relatives said that he underwent a second surgery. It was related that Jordan is only able to consume liquids at the moment.
The investigation into the matter was launched by the Health Authority in Region Six after Stabroek News broke the story earlier this month.
A source related that the findings were “being sent to the Ministry of Public Health”, after which, a decision will be made on the way forward.
According to information gathered, the health officials in question reportedly claimed during the investigation that Jordan had left unknowing to the attending doctor at the Corentyne hospital.
Meanwhile, sources close to the investigation told Stabroek News that the doctor in question told the authorities through a written statement that the patient’s blood pressure, pulse and respiration were normal; there were no signs of dehydration and pallor; and the skin exhibited the usual body warmth.
The doctor claimed, that the patient did not complain of any pain and that the patient looked “composed”.
Also according to the source, the doctor claimed that he had asked the patient during examination to stand up, however, the abdomen was neither distended nor rigid, and it was noted that he observed no sign of an acute abdomen.
Additionally, Stabroek News was told that other health officials at the hospital confirmed during the investigation that Jordan was then prescribed a Ranitidine 50 mg injection, two Gelusil tablets to chew, and Buscopan tablets for abnormal pain, although the doctor reportedly claimed in his statement that the patient did not complain of experiencing such.
It was also reported that the doctor further claimed that after being prescribed the injection and tablets, he told the patient and his relative to sit and wait for a “period of observation”.
The doctor reportedly noted that he was sitting at his desk listening for groaning, nauseating pain or vomiting, none of which he claimed he heard.
The doctor, after supposedly dealing with all the patients that were at the hospital at that time, left for rest at 12.10pm. He noted that when he left, the patient and his sister were still at the hospital.
The doctor is said to have claimed that he told the nurses that should any patient complain of pain or any other illness, he should be informed. However, he was not called for anything and claims he is unaware when the patient and his relative left the hospital.
Phone call
Stabroek News had previously reported that Jordan’s sister, Malinda Burgess, of Lot 65 Den Amstel Village, West Coast Demerara, on Sunday, April 8, rushed to Berbice after she received a phone call about her brother’s condition from extended relatives in the Corentyne area.
She had said that she arrived on the Corentyne at around 8 pm and immediately took her brother, a father of two, to the Port Mourant Hospital, where they met a male doctor.
She recalled that her brother was vomiting profusely and complaining about a pain in his chest. “He tell the doctor how he chest hurting he inside out and he vomiting all the time,” she recalled.
However, despite these symptoms, the doctor had only two questions for her brother; when last he had something to eat, and when last he consumed alcohol. Burgess had relayed that her brother informed the doctor that he hadn’t eaten anything over a couple of days, since he would vomit everything he ate, and that he drank a small amount of alcohol during the Easter holidays.
However, the doctor also told the authorities that no one responded when he questioned when last the patient consumed alcohol.
“The doctor then call the nurse to give him an injection for the pain and two pink tablets and he (the doctor) tell me take him home and give him something hot to eat, he have wind,” she recalled, while adding, “He didn’t even touch my brother or run any test and check his vitals”.
The woman had stressed that she believes that based on her brother’s appearance the doctor made an assumption, rather than running the relevant tests and performing a proper diagnosis of her brother. “Even if mad people or drunkie go to the hospital they supposed to be looked after, my brother wasn’t none”, she had said.
Burgess then decided to rush her brother to the GPH since she realized that his condition was deteriorating. Upon arriving at the GPH during the wee hours of April 9, doctors immediately conducted several tests and determined that Jordan had to undergo an emergency surgery.
