Mother blames hospital officials for stillborn baby

Apr 27, 2015 News

Yet another mother is bringing the health sector under scrutiny, following a botched delivery which resulted in her baby being still born.
Teresa Lalltoo, 30, a mother of one gave birth to a dead baby girl on April 19, 2015 at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). The woman was transferred to that institution from the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH).
The woman had been experiencing labour complications at the WDRH and since there was no staff capacity to deal with her condition at the time, she had to be referred to the country’s premier medical institution.
Yesterday at her Pourderoyen, West Coast Demerara (WCD) home, Lalltoo told a Kaieteur News reporter that she is still trying to come to grips mentally with her mishap and is in the process of recovering physically also.
The distraught woman, who was surrounded by her relatives, had to dig deep to find the strength to talk about her experience. As Lalltoo was unable to talk about it she presented a written report of what transpired.
Kaieteur News understands that two Saturdays ago, Lalltoo paid a visit to her doctor, Dr. Ravi Persaud. After an examination, she was advised that her delivery time was near and was instructed to go home but to return whenever she began to experience intense pain.

Teresa Lalltoo is consoled by her brother.

The doctor told her she should call and he will make himself readily available to assist or oversee her delivery.
She then went home, carrying on with her usual activities. After experiencing minor contractions, the pain intensified and the woman contacted her doctor who assured her that it was nothing to worry about and advised that he be contacted when the pain becomes worse.
After three hours of intense, unbearable pain, she then called him back before she was rushed to the WDRH by her mother. Upon arrival, Miss Lalltoo was placed to sit in the waiting area where little or no attention was given to her up to the point where she was asked by a nurse if she was there to “put on a show.”
Thirty minutes of waiting to be examined eventually came to an end. Arrangements for her examinations were made and she was subsequently examined. When examined, she was found to have a cervical dilation of 3cm, but 10cm is the ideal dilation for birthing.
She was then escorted to the pre-natal ward of the WDRH where she was admitted to await further cervical dilation to enable delivery. Doctors predicted that she would have given birth at approximately 1-2 am the following day.
Family members turned up at 6:30am the following day to visit their relative but were told that visiting hours were not until 2:30 the afternoon. Assuming that all was well, they subsequently left, only to be called sometime later to be informed that the baby was still yet to be born as the cervix did not progress from the initial 3cm dilation.
According to reports, Lalltoo had stopped feeling pain and doctors had suggested that it was possible to put her on ‘drips’ to induce labour and create the condition for natural delivery.
However there are a number of risk factors in attempting this, and it requires the use of a theatre and skilled professionals to handle the case. In the absence of skilled staff, this was administered to Lalltoo. According to the family, Lalltoo was given a more concentrated volume of the oxytocin drips as the initial dose was apparently not effective as was expected.
According to one doctor present, “it would be an experiment, as he never encountered a mother who failed to progress or get pains even with the administration of oxytocin.” But it seemed to have assisted as the cervical dilation progressed to 7cm by 1:30pm.
“But she water bag didn’t burst yet,” a relative stated. Professionals would refer to such occurrence as an intact membrane.
A call was then made by the nurses to carry out an artificial rupture of membranes, where a slim object was placed up the vagina and allowed to puncture the amnion (water bag).
At that point, instead of just the amniotic fluid coming forth, a portion of the umbilical cord came out and was lodged in the vagina; a phenomenon known as cord prolapsed, which has great potential negative effects on the foetus.
Knowing the emergency of such occurrence, doctors came rushing to the woman’s aid and attempted to insert the cord back into the vagina but those attempts were futile.
All the while the foetal heart rate was being monitored and it dropped quickly from a strong 165 beats to 45 beats per minute.
This drop in the heart rate is characteristic of cord prolapsed and could decrease until it stops completely, which would mark foetal demise or death of the foetus.
Because of this, Lalltoo had to be referred to the national referral hospital, GPHC. She was then transported by an ambulance to GPHC approximately five minutes later.
Arriving some 20 minutes later at GPHC, Lalltoo was taken to the delivery room in the Maternity ward, where she was further examined and the status of her unborn child monitored.
It was then discovered that since the previous record the foetus’ heart rate had dropped to zero; the unborn child was no longer alive. The child died while the mother was being transported to GPHC from WDRH.
The distraught family said that they sought answers, but the answers given to them left much room for questioning. Around 1:30am the Monday morning, Lalltoo in excruciating pain after being placed on ‘drips’ was examined and found to be fully dilated and ready to deliver her dead child. At 1:50am, Monday morning, Lalltoo finally delivered a 3.2kg female child, in the presence of nurses and midwives at GPHC.
To add insult to her injury, the grieving woman was placed in the Post Natal Ward amongst other mothers who had successful deliveries. When Kaieteur news visited her in hospital, she was seen weeping bitterly as she watched others cuddle and share affection with their babies. Lalltoo was not only forced to watch the joy of others but also had to share a bed with another. She related that the experience was very traumatizing, as every time she looked around, she saw mothers with their children.
She explained that the hurt was further inflicted, as she described her encounters with the nurses in the Post Natal Wards as one of hostility. She admitted that although some were helpful, the majority seemed to lack understanding and would force her to walk despite the extreme pain she was still experiencing.
Teresa Lalltoo now seeks justice for her deceased child and for herself, because in her words “nothing can take the pain of losing something that has been a part of you.”
This is just another case added to the list of mothers who have alleged that their children succumbed due to negligence and malpractice by medical practitioners.