Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
A Morvant couple, whose first child died at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital’s Neonatal ICU on Christmas Eve last year, believes their baby’s death should have alerted health officials that something was wrong at the unit, preventing further loss of life
The couple, Roy Richards and Fayola Andrews, yesterday said they had questions about their baby Roxanne’s care and their concerns grew after her death but they thought no one would take them seriously if they came forward.
Then they saw, almost daily for the past two weeks, parents reliving their nightmare of losing their babies.
That’s when they decided to approach Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan and Freedom Chambers.
They are now included in the class action lawsuit against the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA).
Richards, 31, a security officer, said he decided to speak out now to ensure others won’t have to suffer.
“What made me step out is the fact that I know what it is to lose a child,” he said, as he broke down in tears and was comforted by Andrews.
The couple said their daughter Roxanne was delivered via an emergency Caesarean section on November 23, 2023. One month and a day later she was dead. The first cause of death, as listed by the hospital, said Roxanne died from Klebsiella pneumoniae sepsis and prematurity. The second one stated the baby died of Klebsiella pneumoniae sepsis, prematurity and low birth rate.
After a private autopsy was done, pathologist Professor Hubert Daisley said the child died from a cerebral haemorrhage, consolidation of the lungs and prematurity.
The couple said throughout their daughter’s stay at the hospital, they were left with more questions than answers. Richards said he found it strange that their daughter was being kept because of her birth weight.
On December 9, 2023, the couple was told Roxanne had jaundice. In querying how his daughter contracted jaundice, Richards was told his baby girl received a blood transfusion. This raised more questions, as the parent received no request to authorise such a procedure.
Sometime later, he and the mother were asked to purchase a drug which they claimed caused an adverse reaction, which resulted in baby Roxanne being placed back on a ventilator and developing a swollen stomach.
Richards said while his daughter was being treated at the Neonatal ICU, he recalled on December 16 the ward was shut down for a day. He believed this was done to sanitise the department.
“When you is the only person actually saying I think something is wrong, nobody will believe you. And when I was saying ‘eh something is wrong’ to the people in her family and my family, and the doctors reassured her family that everything was fine. And they did not believe me when I was saying something is. It was difficult. I didn’t think anybody will believe me or that anything will come out of it,” Richards cried.
He said the authorities could have done more to prevent other deaths by either sanitising the ward earlier or alerting the expectant mothers to seek treatment elsewhere.
The couple said the incident highlights a need for an independent institution to oversee the operations of all health facilities.
“What they can put in place is an independent body to look over what these doctors are doing in the hospital. Because when it comes to accountability, I don’t believe that it have any accountability when you’re a doctor. If you make a mistake, and you tell somebody something, it’s like, I’m a doctor and everybody should accept what you say,” Richards claimed.
The couple said they hoped the probe being done by the Pan American Health Organization into the deaths of infants would reveal the truth about what happened.