Mother of five dies at GPHC after doctors delay diagnosis

Feb 07, 2010 News

An emotional Martin Luke King, from Number Two Canal, West Bank Demerara, came with tears in his eyes and grief in his words to Kaieteur News as he related how negligence was responsible for his wife’s death at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on January 17, 2010.

A grief stricken Martin Luke King

He said that she underwent a series of medical tests at the GPHC and had she been diagnosed and treated in a timely manner, her life could have been saved. According to King, his wife, Dawn Lane, was the mother of five and the main earner in the home since she was a trader of goods.
He said that his wife returned home before Christmas last year after trading and complained of not feeling well, since her eyes appeared to be yellow and her urine was red.
He explained she was taken to the Pharmacy where she received medication, and later noticed her eyes were turning a deeper yellow and thought it was jaundice.
King said his wife was then taken to the GPHC at noon and waited at the emergency section for hours. She was seen by a doctor at 17:15 hours although few persons were at the emergency section.
He added the doctor then took blood samples and said in two hours the results would be available. Some time after 22:00 hours, the results were still not available.
King said that his wife was admitted for two days and on her discharge, told to return on January 26, 2010.
“Can you believe that blood test results would take so long while my wife is punishing?” he queried.
King revealed that his wife was very weak and in tremendous pain. He said that she could not even have a bowel movement. He then carried her to Woodlands Hospital where more tests were done, samples taken, and the doctor told King that his wife would have to be admitted.
The man said that he explained to the doctor that he could not afford that. He was then advised by the doctor to carry the same test results to the GPHC and give it to the doctor.
He further said that the second Friday in January he returned with his wife at the GPHC and was told by a nurse to carry his wife to the outpost. While there, his wife saw a doctor and was told that a liquid was in her stomach. She then received two injections and was told that more tests would have to be taken.
“I then went to the hospital the next day for my wife’s results and they had me running from the blood bank to central, then to emergency and no one said where my wife results were.
“I even see a woman, the director for that part and still nothing, only the day before my wife died they find she results. It was for hepatitis B, the serious one.” King said.
He further added that his wife was admitted to GPHC and when they were there she sat in a wheel chair for hours before she received saline. She had to be interviewed by another doctor before given a bed. He noted that when he called his wife from her mobile phone she said she was feeling very strange and sick and all that she received were painkillers and a tablet to ease her bowels.
Then he visited her and broke down in tears to see his wife in a condition he had never seen her in before.
“How can they only give her pain tablets and nothing else?” King questioned.
“I told my children that the doctor said they mother had a 50/50 chance of survival,” he said.
He further explained that the night before his wife died, he slept on the outside of the female ward on the bench because he wanted to see her as early as possible. “When I went in I see my wife tongue outside her mouth and I put it in back, she was looking really bad.” The nurses then placed an oxygen mask over her face he said.
In tears, the man related that a patient told him that the nurses and doctors were not attending to his wife properly since she was reluctant to drink any tablets and the nurses were carefree in their attendance.
King explained since the doctors and staff of the GPHC gave him the royal run around and delayed the necessary treatment for his wife, her health deteriorated rapidly resulting in her death.
“They robbed my children of a mother and she was the bread winner of the family,” King said in grief.