The family of a woman who was reported last month as one of the country’s COVID-19 fatalities has said neither her immediate care givers nor other relatives were asked to take a test for the virus after she died in the Georgetown Public Hospital’s COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The relatives of the deceased, who say they received conflicting information, spoke to Stabroek News last Thursday on the condition of anonymity.
The primary caregiver revealed that the now dead woman, who was her parent, was suffering from an underlying condition for years and it had worsened in the recent months. “I took care of her every day and I know that she was dying,” the relative said.
The elderly woman died in September.
In the weeks leading up to her passing, her condition deteriorated significantly and relatives were forced to hospitalise her. She was admitted to a health facility before being moved to the public hospital, where she tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted into the COVID-19 ICU, where she later died.
Her relatives disclosed that they were informed of her COVID-19 test results and were briefed on her condition but were told nothing regarding quarantine, isolation or if they themselves needed to be tested and this had caused them to question the test results at first.
“They say that she tested positive for COVID so if they say that this is it, weren’t they supposed to check with the family members to test or isolate them?” the daughter asked, before adding that if the deceased had the disease, she expected that they would have received a call for the family to get tested.
“If she had COVID, then I had to get because I was taking care of her most of the time and then all my other relatives had to get it too because we live in one house and had contact with each other. Anyway, I had no symptoms and (neither) did my other relatives but we could’ve not have symptoms like they were saying that people can have the disease but show no signs,” she said.
Nonetheless, the relative added, at that time they were not sure what to believe and the conclusion they arrived at was that the woman might have contracted COVID-19 at the hospital since that was the only plausible explanation at the time for them not being isolated or tested.
Ministry of Health spokesperson Daniel Singh told Stabroek News that the ministry is following the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for certification and classification of COVID-19 as a cause of death.
According to the guidelines by WHO, COVID-19 should be recorded on the medical certificate of the cause of death for all decedents where the disease caused, or is assumed to have caused or contributed to the death.
Persons who died from a myocardial infarction or accident but were found to be COVID-19 positive are not considered COVID-19 fatalities.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony stated that although many persons go to the hospital for pre-existing health conditions, they are swabbed upon admittance to the hospital and in many instances the results of those persons return positive. He noted that although those persons were taken to the hospital for a different reason, once they died after testing COVID-19 positive they will be recorded as a COVID-19 death.
However, when the elderly woman died last month, the relative said they went to her doctor and he told them that she died from the long-term illness she was diagnosed with a few years back. He did not mention anything about COVID-19.
“He explain to us saying is this she die from and not this, so we say okay is not COVID she die from and all the time this is what we thinking,” the relative said.
However, when they received the death certificate, which was seen by Stabroek News, it stated that her cause of death was indeed the disease she was battling for years but it also stated that COVID-19 was a contributing factor to her death.
After receiving the death certificate, the relative said she called the authorities but there was little explanation. However, she noted, the conflicting information is certainly a cause for concern and a better job needs to be done. “They say is this and not COVID and so with all we went through we don’t know what to believe”, a relative lamented.
The relative went on to add that with all the information that they received since the woman was hospitalised, they are now confused and are wondering if she is listed among the Ministry’s 109 reported COVID-19 fatalities. If this is the case, they said, they should inform families or give a clear explanation surrounding the death of their loved ones.
One of the relatives then recalled that a friend went through a similar incident in July where he was told that his parent died from the long-term illness she was suffering from and this was accepted but soon after the friend learned via social media that the then Ministry of Public Health had disclosed to the public that his parent had died from COVID-19 without informing him.
