Chilling suspense in a Nursing Home

Feb 13, 2011 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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The Palms: Mystery still surrounds the death of an inmate here 12 years ago

– did someone who was supposed to care for Ivan Wilson murder him instead?

By Michael Jordan

The old man lying on the bed spoke in a whisper. His eyes shifted nervously. He was an ex-cop, but now he was just a frail nursing home patient; and he was terrified…terrified of a woman. And perhaps he had good reason to be. If there was any truth in the stories I had heard, she was ill-tempered, she was sadistic, and maybe, just maybe, she had even killed…
I was there to investigate a possible murder at one of the country’s most revered nursing homes…and the suspect was one of the staff at the Palms.
The alleged victim was Ivan Wilson, a 36-year-old mentally challenged man. Wilson, who could only speak a few words, was taken to a Mahaica nursing home when he was much younger, after his parents died. He was eventually transferred to the Palms around 1994.
Wilson was one of the youngest patients there and from what relatives said, he was not a troublesome individual. They were certain that the Palms was the best place for him.
But something went terribly wrong with the mentally challenged man on the night of November 30, 1998.
The nursing staff would later claim that they found Wilson lying in a semi-conscious state in his bed in Ward ‘A.’
According to statements in the nurse’s Occurrence Book, Wilson’s face was swollen and there were abrasions on his right cheek. It is alleged that the staff immediately summoned a doctor, and at around midnight, Wilson was transferred to the Georgetown Hospital. He died there shortly after.
Wilson’s body remained at the hospital’s mortuary for about a month. He was eventually buried in January without an autopsy being done, and without his relatives being notified of his demise.
And that might have been the end of the matter, except that in April 1999, some nurses contacted me with some disturbing allegations.
They said that Wilson’s death had been anything but natural.
According to some of the staff, Wilson and other male inmates were victims of an ill-tempered and sadistic nurse’s aide, who worked in Ward ‘A’ at the Palms.
They alleged that the patients, including Wilson, were verbally abused, slapped, punched, and sometimes even beaten with sticks. The stories seemed almost unbelievable. Who would want to torment a group of helpless old men and a mentally handicapped individual?
To find out, I took a trip to the Palms. One of the patients I spoke with was Ivan Sampson, a retired policeman.
Lying in his bed and glancing around furtively, Sampson told me that the nurse’s aide had often punched him in the back and on the shoulders. She had also whipped him and other inmates with sticks.
In addition, he claimed that the woman hardly allowed them to rest in the daytime. Resting patients were often ordered to sit at a table in the corridor.
Perhaps I might only have half-believed him if something unexpected hadn’t happened at that moment.
A stout and sullen female in white entered Ward ‘A’ and began to shout at an elderly man who had apparently slipped to the floor.
“Get up!” she yelled at the man, who had a walking stick and was apparently unable to rise on his own. “Get Up!” She made no attempt to assist him.
I realised that Sampson was also staring at the scene.
“Is that the woman?” I asked.
“That is the woman,” he replied in a whisper.
Unfortunately, back then, I had no digital camera to snap that disturbing scene.
It was only after I published the story about the alleged abuse at the Palms that Wilson’s relatives learned of his death. They had last visited him in mid-November 1998. They said that he had appeared to be in good health. They were outraged that no officials had informed them of his death, and that he had been buried in a pauper’s grave.
According to Maylene Washington, Wilson’s first cousin, at least two nursing staffers were closely acquainted with the relatives who visited Wilson occasionally. Officials at the Palms also had the relatives’ telephone number, she claimed.
But the Administrator at the Palms back then told me that none of his staff had informed him that Wilson had relatives that officials could have contacted.
By this time, the Ministry of Human Services had begun an investigation into Wilson’s death and the alleged abuse of other inmates. Meanwhile, the nurse’s aide at the centre of the allegations was sent on leave.
disturbing information
The police also mounted an investigation into the suspected murder, and more disturbing information about Wilson’s death began to emerge. For instance, detectives took possession of a medical chart which showed that Wilson’s remains were released for burial, even though a doctor at the Georgetown Hospital had ordered that a post mortem be done.
It also emerged that the staffers who took Wilson to the hospital to be admitted had claimed that he had been injured in a fall.
On April 27, 1999, police exhumed Ivan Wilson’s body from a four-foot deep grave in Le Repentir Cemetery. The autopsy was performed by the celebrated pathologist, Dr. Leslie Mootoo.
Dr. Mootoo examined the skull and surmised that there had been hemorrhaging of the brain. He explained that this could have been caused by a blow to the head. As he explained to me at the time: “the head had to come into contact with something, or something had to come into contact with the head (for the hemorrhaging to have occurred).”
After the autopsy, police assured that they would interrogate the nurse’s aide.
But in August 1999, the investigation suffered a setback. Ivan Sampson, the retired policeman who had alleged that he was beaten by the suspect, died.
Although she was questioned by police, there was not enough evidence to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that she had caused Wilson’s death. Investigations into the death at the Palms ground to a halt.
After being suspended for several months, and despite the allegations against her, the nurse’s aide finally returned to duty. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Human Services, Roopnarine Khadoo, told me that the Ministry had no other option. According to him, the Ministry would have been in danger of breaching Public Service regulations if the suspension had not been lifted. He reassured me that the investigation into Wilson’s death was not closed.
But nothing more has been heard of the case. For a time, the nurse’s aide was removed from Ward ‘A’
and placed to work within the office of the nursing home’s physician.
And I know for sure that the woman who sent fear into the hearts of the men at the nursing home is back in the wards…

If you have any information about this or any other unusual case, please contact Kaieteur News by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown. Our numbers are 22-58465, 22-56458 and 22-58458. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address [email protected].

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