Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Newborn’s death rocks GPHC
By Latoya Giles
Medical practitioners at the Georgetown Public Hospital have once again come under unwelcome scrutiny.
Again a mishap, this time the death of a newborn is the cause.
Twenty-three-year old first time mother, Savita Paltoo, is alleging that her baby died after a doctor ignored information on her clinic card which showed that the child should have been delivered via Caesarean section.
Paltoo told Kaieteur News that on Monday last, she was given a referral letter from the Plaisance Health Centre to take to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
She visited the GPHC on Tuesday morning. A clinic card which was seen by this newspaper stated that because of the baby’s position, vaginal delivery would have been a high risk.
Savita Paltoo
“After I reach to the hospital…..de doctor tell me I got to be admitted and that I had to do a Caesarian surgery, so I send home for my stuff.” After being admitted to the GOHC on Tuesday, Paltoo said she started having severe pains and began bleeding on Friday morning.
According to Paltoo, a doctor ordered an ultra sound but alleged that hospital officials refused to give her any details about the findings of the ultrasound.
She was taken back to the maternity ward where nurses began giving her intravenous drips, to help induce labour.
Kaieteur News was told that about three hours later, Paltoo was rushed to the delivery room, even though doctors had stated that a vaginal delivery was not to be done.
The distraught woman said that after she was rushed to the labour room by a nurse, the female doctor there refused to examine her.
“She tell de nurse I ain’t ready…..because de baby not ready to come.”
According to the woman, the nurse and the female doctor began having a heated argument and it was the nurse who was left to tend to Paltoo.
She said the nurse filled up the Caesarian chart and Paltoo was rushed to the operating theater, late Friday afternoon.
After hearing that she was being taken to the operating theater, Paltoo thought her nightmare would have been over.
But she said that instead of Caesarian surgery, the doctors in the theatre forced her to deliver vaginally. However, that failed and doctors had to make a surgical incision to enlarge the vagina and assist in childbirth.
The woman said she immediately knew something was amiss.
“After I ain’t hear de baby cry…..I know something wrong and I start crying because I went through nine months of a pleasant pregnancy and this is what I end up with,” the distraught woman said.
She said nurses quickly attached an oxygen mask over the infant’s face and took him to the postnatal ward.
However, the baby’s condition apparently worsened and he was taken to the Intensive Care Unit. While in the ICU, the baby was also receiving intravenous drips.
The woman said that one nurse told her that the baby’s breathing was low and that his heart beat was irregular.
The baby spent one week in the ICU and passed away yesterday. Outraged relatives yesterday told this publication that all the while the baby was in the ICU, none of the hospital officials were willing to divulge any information about the child’s condition.
“One week we going to the hospital and nobody don’t want to say anything…..” cried one relative.
Meanwhile, a source within the hospital yesterday said that because the doctors did not heed the advice for a Caesarian section, there was insufficient oxygen during delivery, forcing the infant to slip into a coma.
This also caused severe brain damage and saw survival being slim.
When contacted yesterday, GPHC public relations officer, Alero Proctor, said that she was unaware of the incident but a full statement on the matter would be issued on Monday when a post mortem examination is expected to be conducted.
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