Relatives to take legal action against New Amsterdam Hospital after death of woman, unborn baby
By Malisa Player-Harry
Kaieteur News– New Amsterdam Hospital has come on fire again after a woman and her baby died following a transfer from the establishment to Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC). Relatives have criticized the establishment and medical staff who addressed the pregnant woman, citing their firm belief that some form of negligence must have occurred on the hospital’s behalf.
Deceased are Vanessa Sahadeo, 32, of Lot 19, 3rd Street Williamsburg and her stillborn baby. At the deceased’s home, relatives had gathered and her parents were still grumbling from the shock that their daughter and grandchildren are no more. Her grieving mother, Clarice Cecil, relayed to the media that her daughter was strong and healthy with no complications when she was admitted to New Amsterdam Hospital on Monday. She said that prior to her admission, she had visited the clinic and had been informed by the nurses that she was due to deliver at any time. She said that from the time her daughter was admitted on Monday, they visited her every day and remembered that her daughter was normal in adding that she appeared to have no complications because she was walking around, talking, and eating as she usually did.
Clarice Cecil, mother of the death woman with her dead daughter’s other three children
On February 26, 2021, Sahadeo spoke with her mother by telephone and indicated that she was about to be transported to the labor room for drops (Saline). She had noted that the doctors and nurses had checked her daughter and that her weight was normal. Sahadeo was experiencing low pressure when she was admitted but the doctors had prescribed Cecil to buy the medicine for Sahadeo to use. Cecil said the last conversation she had with her daughter was Friday morning and that she was talking about celebrating her birthday and nine days. Cecil said after she hung up, she started preparing dinner to go for her daughter but she wasn’t feeling well and so she sent her other daughter.
At about 14:00 hours, Cecil said she received a call from a nurse at New Amsterdam Hospital and was told that her daughter had given birth to her baby, but that the newborn had died. She was also told that they had to remove her daughter’s womb. The grieving mother said her stomach had sunk as she tried to digest the unexpected news. While she was about to ask what really happened, the call stopped. Worry filled her soul and called the hospital. Kaieteur News understands that the mother has reached a nurse at this point. In making several inquiries, the nurse told her that her daughter “had to go to Georgetown Hospital”. She immediately informed her husband and broke down in tears. They got dressed and went to the medical facility.
“When I go New Amsterdam dem says demna allows two people to get in so I’m running in and she’s deh in front of the door on the stretcher but I’m see she is facing and I start hollering and when i go now i feel her hand and her hand is cold, cold and demna tell me whats happening. I bring a husband to me and say he likes ‘Vene’ is dead and he starts to holler ‘me dead girl’. Then a slim nurse now comes to tell me she’s dead and that dem has to give her blood ”. However, that also became a problem after the nurse reported that the hospital was bloodless.
“My husband tells dem that he donates blood in hospital and ayuhna gets a pint blood to give me a daughter. He tells dem he’s going to give her blood and dem says dem can’t give her blood just like that, dem has to clean the blood ”, says the woman. She added that she was then told an ambulance had to take her daughter to Georgetown Public Hospital, but the ambulance took someone else. They were left with no choice but to sit in their grip as time passed.
“We go down there until after five we go on to six then the ambulance comes and dem puts her inside and the doctor goes in the front seat and then there’s a dem put on the ting and start pumping it again then my husband asks if he can go with the ambulance and they said no to him ”, he said.
Vanessa Sahadeo in the final stages of her pregnancy.
It was a whirlwind of emotions but Sahadeo was contacted by an uncle of Georgetown’s uncle. He told them he will take care of things when Sahadeo arrives at GPHC. The bereaved mother of the dead woman said she was told that “damn it up, dem tek out her womb, dem clamp the baby on her head and tease the baby out and remove the womb. When dem does that now she starts bleeding and dem can’t control the bleeding, they run it in the theater. ”
Speaking to the deceased woman’s uncle and her baby, Joseph Lewis, he noted that when Sahadeo arrived at GPHC there was a team of doctors waiting to manage his niece. She said they started giving her blood and oxygen immediately and during that time one of the doctors spoke to him.
“They said she had wasted more than 90% and they had given her a 5% chance at that time to live. Then they went into the theater and asked me to stay, I stayed outside after a few hours and then they phoned me, and I saw the lead consultant, a Portuguese doctor and kept me up to date with what happened ”, said Lewis.
He explained that the doctor informed him when his niece was admitted, based on the information on her chart, that her weight was high and the weight was still spiking. He said the doctor had revealed that “the pressure was increasing and it had led to two things, it ruptured her brain and sheared the cord connecting the baby to the mother; that triggered bleeding and they decided (at New Amsterdam Hospital) to do a C-section, the C-section increased the bleeding. ”He was told that the baby had already died and the doctors at NA Hospital decided to save his niece’s life by removing the womb.
“That didn’t help, and fluid started to flood the chamber and the bleeding increased so they packed, clamped and put a tube in it to drain, ventilate and ship away to Georgetown like a butcher’s cow”, he said. It was until 03:00 o’clock. yesterday morning he received the call that she had died in the GPHC Intensive Care Unit.
Lewis praised Georgetown Hospital for their efforts in trying to save his niece’s life but jailed New Amsterdam Hospital for the way they treated her.
“They were very professional, GPHC doctors and medical staff must be commended, they did an amazing job there and treated us like humans, but we can’t say the same for New Amsterdam Hospital. The server there is arrogant. She treated us like animals and as if we had no right to be there, ”he said.
Lewis said something has to be done about the hospital and the way it is run. He opined that “the whole medical team led by the corrupt administration, especially the gynecologist, must be replaced, they are leaving you. When you take food, they tell you to leave it at the door so it’s like when you got a tiger and you go to the zoo and you leave it there and you walk away and so you don’t know if your family is eating or not. They don’t update you, when you call them they act like you’re not calling them, they treat you with utter arrogance and disrespect and if the powers that be to treat this is a serious matter not only for that child who died there but for Guyanese women as a whole. You’ll have more like this, you’ve got murder and they’re still covering it up “.
The family is calling on the Government of Guyana to “take full responsibility” for what happened. Since then, Joseph Lewis has indicated that they will be looking for a private autopsy and a DNA test for the baby. He has also indicated their intention to take legal action against New Amsterdam Hospital. Meanwhile, the dead woman’s mother revealed that her daughter’s belongings are left at New Amsterdam Hospital and her cellphone along with about $ 20,000 and one side gold earring are missing. She said Sahadeo had $ 30,000 in her bag and only saw $ 10,000 when nurses handed over the bag.
Calls went to the Regional Health Officer Vishalya Sharma unanswered. However, Kaieteur News was informed that a probe had been launched.
Vanessa Sahadeo leaves to mourn her three children aged six, nine and 11 along with other relatives.