What’s with the Psychiatric Ward at GPHC?

Aug 03, 2008 Editorial

A headline in the Saturday issue of this newspaper proclaimed that the Sanata deal stank to high heavens. We are also of the view that something in the Psychiatric Ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital stinks to the high heavens.

The news broke that a young woman was strangled by another patient in the ward. How could this be possible when there are nurses in the ward, who should be keeping an eye on the patients? One would expect that from time to time there would be violent episodes in the ward, because some people may have certain psychotic disorders that would be exhibited in violent behaviour.

One would therefore expect that the authorities would have special measures in place to deal with such patients.

One would also expect that the hospital would have guards in close proximity to cope with violent patients, because no one can expect the nurses, unless they are specially trained in the art of self defence, to be able to wrestle with violent patients.

We understand that there are no guards at the Psychiatric Ward, and this we find rather strange, because the hospital has guards who harass people, particularly those whom they feel should not be at the hospital.

There is also a police outpost there because, from time to time, criminal elements would visit the hospital, either in the company of the police or on their own to seek medical attention.

Just last week there was the story of a man who was attacked and robbed by three men whom he said were members of the Guyana Defence Force. While seeking medical attention at the hospital, the man spotted one of his assailants. The police there effected an arrest.

With such a presence, one would have expected that it would have been no big deal to have guards placed in or near the Psychiatric Ward. This is not the case.

One question that needs to be asked is where were the nurses when the violent patient was strangling the young woman? It could not be that they were fast asleep; and if they were, then they should be disciplined. Theirs is the task to monitor the patients, and they should have been doing this.

If they happened to be awake and had witnessed the attack, why did they not summon help? They have access to a telephone, and they could have summoned help if they were afraid to intervene. In the end, according to our information, a woman ran for help and a man actually got involved and subdued the violent patient.

In any other part of the world this incident would have invited legal action. The case of a patient dying violently in the custody of the hospital would have been bound to cause raised eyebrows.

The first thing that the authorities would have done would have been to call a press conference to inform the nation of the sad affair. Yesterday, there was not a peep from the authorities, except a mundane press release that did not say much.

“The body of Natasha Vieira, a patient of the Female Observation Ward, Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) was discovered next to her bed around 04:30 hrs on Saturday, August 3, 2008. Vieira’s body bore marks of violence around the neck. The 21-year-old was seen by a doctor and pronounced dead at 05:00 hrs. The matter was reported to the Police.”

The fact that the body was discovered next to the bed suggested that the nurses were not at their station. Then the statement that the body bore marks of violence suggested that they could have been caused by anyone. There was no mention of the attacker.

Such attempts to downplay issues could often lead to speculation, and had reporters not ventured to ascertain what happened, the truth might never have come out.

So where do we go from here? The violent woman, a 48-year-old, was still in the ward, ready to pose a threat to other patients. It transpired that the woman had actually attacked others, yet nothing came of her attacks, except, perhaps, the sedative after the attacks.

We do not know if she was certified as insane. If she is, then she should be at the Fort Canje facility, which specialises in treating the mentally ill. The Psychiatric Ward is merely a temporary holding facility. This violent woman, we understand, has been there for a long time. Why?

Something stinks to high heavens.