A father is hopeful that his son can recover and become fully responsive from injuries that he received on the morning just over two months ago.
Bariel Hall, 18, has been a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital since being a victim of a road accident, which occurred of May 25th at the Avenue of the Republic, in the vicinity of the Route 44 (Plaisance) bus park, after attending a ‘J’ouvert’ which was hosted for the “Guyana Carnival.”
According to Bariel’s father, Barrington Hall, his son had left home on the 24th of May for work and did not return. The father, who was at his son’s bedside, told Stabroek News that he suspects that his son had left the house with a change of clothes in his bag and attended the J’ouvert event without his permission as he normally would not allow his son to be out of the house during late hours. “I go home the next morning and he didn’t come home… I start getting worried, I called his phone and no answer,” Hall said.
The worried father then filed a missing person report for his son and was later advised to check the hospital. He stated that when he checked the hospital, that is where he found his son and broke down in tears to see his only child in such a condition. Bariel had suffered injuries to his head and about his body, including a broken left leg. Hall said that after he identified his son, he was told that a CT scan was required and the results showed that there was haemorrhaging in the brain as well as other head injuries. Bariel’s current state is uncertain as he is breathing through a tracheostomy tube on his own, according to what his father was told by the doctors, while still being administered oxygen and being fed through a feeding tube.
Hall added that from what he was told about the accident, the driver of the car that hit his son did not stop after the impact to render assistance and fled the scene. He said that from his knowledge, the driver was later arrested and released on station bail. While he was told that the investigation is still ongoing, Hall related that he was also told that the vehicle was released from the police’s custody to the owner even though he is yet to be charged and placed before the courts. The man added that he saw video footage taken after the accident and the state that his son was left in, and suggests that the police should acquire video footage from security cameras in the area.
He further stated that after the accident, the driver of the car also did not make any effort to reach out to him or his son to assist in any way.
Hall added that although he had made several complaints, he was advised by police officers that while the investigations are ongoing, they are waiting to see if his son recovers or succumbs to the injuries before the driver is charged.
The elder Hall went on to say that he has been getting mixed feedback from doctors who treated his son within the two-month span that he was a patient of the hospital. “After the doctors give him the treatments and so, they say that the treatment run it[s] course and there’s nothing else that they could do to help him,” Hall said, while adding that other doctors told him that there is a possibility of his son becoming fully responsive and moving on his own. “Any movements you seeing, they [doctors] seh is not of he hearing you and understand and acknowledge you, is brain reaction,” he reported.
The man added that his son was discharged from the hospital and he was advised by doctors to take him home. “One of the doctors, she basically was proclaiming death and telling me take him home and spend the last hours with him at home,” the man said while emphasising that he is “proclaiming life” over his son and standing strong in his faith that God will bring his son back to where he was before. He said that although they discharged his son, he does not have the adequate equipment or knowledge to care for his son at home. “They saying that he breathing on he own but still got a oxygen mask over the tube just in case. Now if I take him home I don’t have the oxygen and so to put just in case.” He disclosed that he recently spoke with the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital to voice his concerns and was happy with the outcome, and his son was re-admitted to the hospital.
