Suspected botched abortion…Doctor awaiting PM examination to clear his name

Feb 09, 2015 News

The doctor, who is accused of performing a botched abortion on 23-year-old Athina Kennedy, five months before she died, is eagerly waiting on a Post Mortem Examination to be done on the woman’s remains, to clear his name.
The doctor, who works at the Bartica Hospital and also operates his private clinic in the community, is holding out that the woman’s relatives are trying to frame him because he refused to give them money.
“They are trying to set me up. I don’t know why they are doing this. We all tried our best to help this patient,” the doctor said.
The physician, who is not licensed by the Ministry of Health to do medical terminations, maintained that he does not terminate pregnancies at his private clinic and has never done so in the past.

Dead: Athina Kennedy99

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 an alleged perforated uterus.
The injuries were reportedly sustained during the abortion which was done last September at a cost of $8000, allegedly at the clinic of the doctor in question.
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.