Policeman loses limb…Mother demands justice from GPHC

Apr 22, 2014 News

The mother of the Samuel Elvis, the policeman who had his right leg amputated nearly a fortnight ago following a “faulty” surgery at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), says that she will do whatever it takes to get justice for her son.
Joylin Elvis said that she is planning to meet with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Khan, from the GPHC, today, to get some “answers.”
And, she says that if it reaches to the stage of her having to hire a lawyer to get justice, then she surely will.
The 23-year-old policeman’s limb had to be removed at a private hospital after medical practitioners attached to the GPHC reportedly performed a “faulty” surgery and damaged his blood vessels.

Samuel Elvis at the hospital

Elvis, a father of one, of Lot 4 Bella Dam, Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara was shot to the right upper thigh. He underwent surgery at the GPHC, but the bullet was not removed.
“When the policeman carried my son to the GPHC, they (health workers) didn’t do an X-ray; they just carry him for surgery and burst his foot and damage his blood vessel and they couldn’t remove the bullet,” the injured man’s mother said.
The mother explained that after the surgery, her son’s foot started to get dark and when she enquired, she was informed that a blood vessel was damaged.
“They continued treating him. I didn’t know what they were treating him for. He was getting fever and his foot started to get black. I asked the doctor if an X-ray was done and she said yes. When I asked to see it, she said it lost,” the mother lamented.
According to Ms. Elvis, after she realised that her son’s foot was getting worse as the days went by, she decided to transfer him to a private hospital.
“When he came here, the doctors remove the bullet and flush out the arteries and the clot blood that was inside. They were quarreling. They said that the surgery was done wrong and I should sue them (GPHC),” the mother stated.
The woman is upset with the services that the GPHC offered to her son. She said that her son could have been dead if she had left him there.
“Sometime after 01:00 hrs on March 20, last, we received a call that a lost Guyana Defence Force weapon was found so we had to go uplift it, which we did. At the base, we were waiting to lodge it when a Corporal picked up the weapon and cranked it,” the injured Elvis recalled.
He added that the gun went off and he was injured.