Man injured by boat propeller dies on medevac flight from Mabaruma

Sep 19, 2022 News

– family accuses medical staff of neglect

Kaieteur News – The family of Robert Obermuller is questioning the competency of local healthcare workers after he died suddenly on August 24, 2022 while being medevaced from the hinterland.

Dead: Robert Obermuller

Obermuller reportedly bled to death on the plane ride to the city after he was injured by a propeller earlier that day during a boat ride at a family function which was being held in Port Kaituma, Region One. The injured man who sustained several deep gashes to his back, was on his way to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for emergency treatment when he died. His wife, Lovern La Rose gave Kaieteur News a harrowing account of the events that lead up to her husband’s death. She is hoping that by highlighting the situation, the health authorities will be able to offer some form of redress.

The mother of six said that on the 24th August, 2022, she and her husband Robert were returning from a family function held in Port Kaituma via boat when a floating log struck the boat’s motor propeller and the captain briefly lost control of the engine. The incident caused Obermuller who was seated next to the captain to sustain several severe cuts to his back from the propeller at around 12:40 that day.

La Rose recalled “everyone that was present in the boat started to panic because Robert was badly injured and we were stranded in an area for approximately half an hour with no signal to call for help.”

The woman related that the desperate cries of the passengers were eventually heard by a concerned resident nearby, who quickly rendered assistance and contacted the coastguards who arrived shortly after.

Robert Obermuller after he was injured by the propeller and passengers tried to assist him to stop the bleeding.

She said her husband was then transported swiftly from the wharf by a soldier vehicle which arrived at Mabaruma Hospital around 2pm.

“He had been lying on his stomach since he first suffered the wounds to lessen the bleeding from his back, and he remained in this position while being attended to by the medics.” The woman believes however, that the medical team could have done more to lessen her husband’s bleeding.

“I was with him the entire time and I witnessed the pain that he was in but he was still conscious. Some medical staff was asking the doctors at Mabaruma Hospital to clamp the wound and close it up until he could be evacuated to Georgetown Hospital since there was no blood for him at Mabaruma but the doctors refused, they said a bandage would hold…”

They said too that there was enough blood in his system to last him throughout his journey to Georgetown hospital. The wife noted that an emergency plane from Georgetown was then contacted but there were complaints about the weather.

She said, “There were two other planes in Mabaruma that came for patients but the doctors refused to let my husband go on either because they were booked for other patients but none of the other patients was in so dire condition,” the woman related.

The woman explained that the plane which was scheduled to medevac her husband to Georgetown arrived four hours later. After the plane arrived at the airport, La Rose said there were further delays because the pilot refused to transport the injured man. He said, “I cannot transport him in this condition. There is too much blood, and this will mess up the plane. He showed more concern for the medical plane than the person fighting for his life,” she noted.

After much begging, the woman said that she and her husband were allowed on the plane with the pilot.

La Rose noted too, “There were no doctors on the plane; my husband was left in the care of two trainee nurses…”

Prior to this, the woman claimed that the actions carried out by the medical personnel during the process of transferring him from the ambulance to the plane, irritated the wounds and worsened the bleeding. She said shortly before the plane arrived, the medics were preparing him for transportation to the airport and they switched him from lying on his stomach to lying on his back. She said despite pleading with them not to, they continued and this caused him to bleed profusely.

Further, La Rose noted that during the plane ride, the nurses began pressing on her husband’s stomach after he started panting for breath. “This action made the bleeding worse, and Robert died as a result from excessive blood loss as shown by the postmortem and this was due to the careless action taken while seeking medical help,” she lamented. The grieving woman is therefore calling for an investigation into the matter.