Latest update December 4th, 2024 2:40 AM
Father wants update on investigation into son’s death
“Frustrating,” is how Robin Albert described the pace of an investigation by the office of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) into his son’s death earlier this year.
Robin Albert with his son who passed away earlier this year
The man’s 11-month-old son, Reuel Albert, passed away on April 28, last, at the Port Kaituma Airstrip as he was being prepared for a medical evacuation to Georgetown. But this was not before the child was subjected to several trips to the hospital that seemed not to help in any way. He believed that this was due to the inexperience of the attending doctor.
The man is convinced that his concerns regarding the treatment of his son while hospitalised have fallen on deaf ears despite him bringing them to the attention of the Ministry of Health.
Albert said that he had put in writing his concerns. The missive was sent to the CMO’s office and had even got an acknowledgment. But there has been no further response. His correspondence to the Ministry was sent in June but the man is worried that the matter has been stalled or discarded altogether.
“Look how many months have passed; at least I think they need to tell me what is the finding…if anybody will be disciplined or not. I really don’t have any answers from them…And the year will come to an end soon and like I still won’t have any answers to my concerns,” an upset Albert told this publication
CMO, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, had earlier this year acknowledged that he had received a written complaint from the parents of the dead child. He assured “We will respond to the family accordingly once a final decision is made.”
He however informed that since learning of the child’s demise he had requested that reports from the relevant officials be forwarded to his office. “I have received those very recently and I am in the process of evaluating those to see what will be the next step, to see if there is any reason to believe there was malpractice or misconduct on the part of the health workers (but) as far as I see there weren’t any,” he’d asserted.
Dr. Persaud has however proceeded on mandatory leave. But both Albert and his reputed wife, Onica Atkinson, are convinced that their son could have still been alive if moves were made earlier to have his son taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
A post mortem examination conducted on the child’s remains revealed that the cause of death was pneumonia.
The senior Albert who was so perturbed by his son’s death had shared a detailed chronology of his son’s hospitalisation period with this publication. He stressed his belief that enough was not done to save his only child’s life.
According to him, the attending doctor had even related at one point that he wasn’t even aware of what was wrong with the child.
The man recalled, “They bore my son up about 20 times trying to get a vein…even the doctor boring and boring and the nurses boring and boring and can’t find a vein…It was hard to watch what they do me son,” said Albert who disclosed that the nurses’ inability to find a vein seemed to frustrate the doctor.
“He started saying he ain’t even know what wrong with this child and how he gon transfer him to Mabaruma (hospital),” added the man who said that he’d instead asked of the doctor to transfer his child to the GPHC.
The man said that while the doctor eventually agreed to transfer the child to Georgetown, he was convinced that the case was not being treated as an emergency.
It wasn’t until the infant developed a breathing problem, Albert noted, that he was administered oxygen and his case deemed an emergency. “Suddenly the doctor say prepare to medivac the child…by then he couldn’t breathe,” disclosed Albert who related that his son was first diagnosed with a heavy cold.
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