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Death of Bartica woman… Doctor fingered in botched abortion is not licensed by MOH
Athina Kennedy
The physician, who is implicated in the death of 23-year-old Athina Kennedy, allegedly performed the abortion on her illegally, since he is not licensed by the Ministry of Health to do medical terminations.
The Health Ministry has a list of physicians who are authorized to perform medical terminations and senior health personnel confirmed yesterday that the embattled doctor is not among those listed.
In addition, places at which the terminations are done have to be licensed by the Health Ministry, but this is not the case with the Bartica location where the abortion on the mother of two was reportedly done.
Kaieteur News was told that there are a lot of doctors, who perform terminations without being licensed to do so, but these incidents come to the attention of the Health Ministry only when something goes wrong.
The doctor in question, in a telephone interview, admitted that apart from working at the Bartica Hospital, he operates his private clinic in the community but he denied performing abortions there. “I do not do any abortions at my private clinic.”
However, three women have since claimed that they had an abortion done at the doctor’s private clinic.
Kennedy, of 44 Second Avenue, Bartica, died at the Bartica Hospital around 02:00 hrs on Wednesday, despite undergoing surgery at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) to repair a perforated uterus.
The injuries were reportedly sustained during the abortion which was done last September at a cost of $8000. The young mother was three months pregnant when she had the pregnancy terminated.
Kaieteur News was told that one week after the woman had the abortion done, her health started to deteriorate.
Her partner, Nathaniel Leandrew, explained that the woman was slightly paralyzed. “She couldn’t walk or move around too much so I took her to the Bartica Hospital and the doctor said that it was Chikungunya and he gave her an injection.”
Leandrew said that the third time he took his partner to the hospital, she was admitted and subsequently transferred to the GPHC where she was hospitalized for seven weeks.
“They (doctors at GPHC) said that her uterus was damaged because of an abortion and they had to fix it. At first she went in the ward and then they transferred her to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). She was unresponsive and was on a machine,” Leandrew said.
He added, “I went to the doctor who did the abortion on her and tell him that he has to assist us financially, or I will report him to the newspaper. He gave me $20,000 and said that’s all he can give. He said even if I go to the papers, nothing will happen to him, and that me and my family will feel shame.”
He added that the doctor even threatened him that if his relatives go to the Bartica Hospital for treatment, no one would attend to them, since everyone follows his orders.
On November 1, last, Athina Kennedy was discharged from the GPHC after her condition improved but was eventually rushed to the Bartica Hospital after her condition deteriorated again. She later succumbed.
A post mortem examination is to be done on Kennedy’s remains on Monday at the Bartica Hospital.
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