The family of one the latest confirmed COVID-19 fatalities yesterday issued a call for the Ministry of Health to review the operations of the Infectious Disease Hospital at Liliendaal, while alleging that neglect was a contributing factor in her death.
According to the family of 56-year-old Vanessa Maynard, they were made aware of staff shortages and inadequate care during her admission at the hospital, including a failure to properly manage her diabetes.
However, hospital spokesperson Chelauna Providence yesterday refuted some of the claims made by the family about the hospital’s operations although she declined to address the specific case as she was not aware of the specifics as no official complaint had been lodged.
Maynard, who had been a nurse at a private hospital, succumbed on Thursday, September 9, 11 days after she was admitted.
During a news conference organised by the main opposition coalition APNU+AFC, her family members alleged that from the moment Maynard was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital just after 1 am on August 29, there was no attempt to record her history and decide on a treatment plan. Once transferred to Liliendaal at about 10 pm that night, they contended that no care plan was developed until the next day and even then it was not “comprehensive” or properly communicated among the physicians as different doctors at different times told the family of different medications being used to treat the woman.
The family also claimed that the staff to patient ratio was severely skewed, with four nurses reportedly being asked to manage 64 patients, which significantly impacted the care received.
But Providence disputed the claim, telling reporters that at no point in time were there only four nurses in the facility. She explained that even when the newest vaccine measures were implemented, the facility had a complement of eight nurses on shift with 19 patients in the ICU. There was no mention of how many patients were in the rest of the facility.
Providence, however, stressed that the quota claimed by the family was certainly not reflective of the situation at the facility.
“With the increase in admissions over the past few days, we’ve had in excess of 20 nurses working per shift daily. As of yesterday, 18 additional nurses have been reassigned to the Ocean View facility to assist with the management of patients. This is in addition to 9 additional doctors who have joined the current complement of 13 doctors who work per shift,” she stressed.
A recent surge in infections, suspected to be due to the presence of the Delta variant of COVID-19 virus, has seen increased hospitalisations at the facility.
According to Maynard’s daughter, Keniesha, and her niece, Kizzy, despite her pre-existing condition, the woman was not placed on a specialised diet nor was her ulcerated leg properly cleaned.
Keniesha explained that her mother was admitted to the hospital with a diabetic ulcer which was healing but after three days it became infected.
“When she was transferred they did not look at it. [They didn’t look at it] the next day either. She called us. She told us she had to cry and she told them ‘I’m a nurse, just bring the gauze and iodine, I’ll do it myself’ because she opened the bandage and she saw it was green. It had become infected,” she said.
She said it was not the last time her mother had to beg the nurses as she reportedly “bribed” them to heat food and empty her bedpan.
In fact, according to the young women, the negligence faced by Maynard made her deliberately limit the amount of water she consumed so that she wouldn’t have to urinate as often.
“There were several instances where her urine was concentrated because the nurses were not coming on a regular basis to change the bedpans, nor were they emptying the colostomy bags for my aunt or any of the other patients there. My aunt specifically was afraid to drink water… because she was afraid nobody was going to come and empty the bedpans and they were not pushing fluids so that led to her being dehydrated as well,” Kizzy stressed.
She added that one doctor had ordered that Maynard undergo a CT Scan on Friday, September 3 but despite the family paying $60,000 to a private facility for the test and Maynard being prepped on two separate days, she never received the scan.
“They prepped her, wheeled her into the yard and then hours later told her the ambulance had left. The next day again she was prepped and took no food, was wheeled into the yard and was told the ambulance was not there. One the third day they said that they needed 10 litres of oxygen to take her for the scan and back but only had 8 litres,” Kizzy lamented adding that when the doctor asked why the scan was not performed, the nurse on call at the time told him she was unaware it had been ordered.
Addressing the claims of an oxygen shortage, Providence explained that the facility uses bulk oxygen, which is refilled daily, an oxygen bank and 100lb cylinders of oxygen.
She acknowledged that there is currently a concern about the space at the facility and that efforts are being made to expand.
“There is work currently being undertaken to further expand the ICU facility to accommodate the influx of patients. Recently the ICU was expanded to cater for an additional 10 patients, taking it from 28-38 beds and work is currently ongoing to expand further. There is piped oxygen available for all the expansions,” she added.
The Maynard family has told reporters that in their grief they remain concerned about other patients and hope that by coming forward no other family would have to face a similar situation.
