A young mother blames a private hospital for negligence in the death of a newborn
Tamera Leslie in the early stages of her pregnancy.
Kaieteur News – A 20-year-old teacher in Bent Street, Wortmanville, is still trying to come to terms with the loss of her first and only child, just minutes after giving birth on Monday night.
Even though her baby girl was born at six months old, Tamera Leslie believed that if the midwife at the private hospital where she gave birth had paid more care and attention, she could have been holding her child today.
Yesterday the distressed woman told Kaieteur News that because of the dismissive treatment she had received during the midwife’s birth process, she was in deep despair. Leslie told this publication that on Monday after seeing blood in her urine, she had alerted her mother who then rushed her to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for medical attention. The young woman said that upon arrival, she was told to sit and wait at the Accident and Emergency Unit to call her name. Leslie said while waiting, he felt as though he was experiencing contractions. With that, she left and went to her mother, who was waiting outside, and asked her to take her to a private hospital. Upon arrival at the private facility, a nurse asked her if she was registered at the hospital clinic. She remembered saying no to the nurse and then she was asked to fill in some paperwork. Because of the condition she was in, Leslie explained that she couldn’t do it, so instead she left her mother and went to treat him.
While in the hospital emergency room, the nurses attended there and checked her blood pressure and other vitamins. From there he left and went to the doctor’s office, where he explained his symptoms. The teacher said that because she was laboring actively, she was not able to do the tests that the Doctor had suggested. She was immediately taken to another room, where she met the midwife who then checked the baby’s heart rate.
After this, the midwife told her that everything was well and fine, and that it was time to give birth to the baby. While in the process of the conversation, the young woman claimed, the midwife had asked her how many months the baby was. “I said six months and she’s just watching me say ‘Right, six months, baby nah is going to live’,” the midwife reported telling her. The woman told Kaieteur News that she did not ask her any further questions because she was left confused as to why the baby was not going to live.
After giving birth, the 20-year-old said the midwife showed her the baby and told her it was a girl. She remembered then seeing her baby breathing. Seconds after, her baby was placed in a blue blanket, and Leslie again claimed that she saw her baby breathing and that she was moving. The young woman remembered hearing her baby crying and nothing of the sort because it all happened so suddenly.
According to Leslie, “She starts folding the blanket and she put the baby in a corner, then it was like, ‘what am I going to do with it because the hospital doesn’t have a store here, it’s not they keep dead babies here, ”he said.
The young woman remembered that the midwife’s phone had started ringing during that time. The teacher claimed the woman had left to answer her phone, while she was still in that condition. While in the room, she noted that there was no oxygen machine or even an incubator or anything that could have saved her child’s life.
The grieving woman who is in pain, is calling on the comparative authorities to investigate this issue, because to date she is still at a loss as to what caused her child’s death and is request a thorough investigation.
Yesterday, this media house contacted the private hospital twice for comment, but it was in vain. Meanwhile, the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Narine Singh, informed that no report had been made to the Ministry regarding the death of the child, therefore no further comment was offered.