Mother loses baby and womb after 12-hour labour at GPHC

Dec 22, 2025 News

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– claims emergency C-Section request denied
– hospital says it followed legal rules and opted to save her life

(Kaieteur News) – A heartbroken mother from Kaneville, East Bank Demerara, says her baby girl, Athena, would still be alive today if doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) had granted her request for an emergency C-section.

Speaking to Kaieteur News, Nelissa Chetram recounted the tragic events of November 8, 2025, when she lost both her unborn child and womb after enduring 12 hours in labour. Chetram, a mother of five, had hoped to gift her husband his first child. “We already have everything, everything for this baby. He (my husband) was more than excited,” Chetram said, recalling the plans they had for December, including celebrations for their birthdays on the 15th and 16th. Chetram, who had been classified as a high-risk patient, was admitted to the maternity ward on November 7 after experiencing early labour pains.

She was initially expected to deliver on November 17. “My water bag broke at 2:20 PM. I went to Georgetown Hospital, got my vitals checked, and went upstairs. The doctors said they had to induce labour,” she recounted. As labour intensified, Chetram repeatedly begged for an emergency C-section. “I told them I was too weak to push and hadn’t eaten properly. I kept asking, ‘Please, give me an emergency C-section,’” she said. According to Chetram, her requests were denied. “She (doctor) seh when you feel the pain push. I feel the pain again I push. I push Baby wasn’t coming. I seh doctor please a begging you if you could please give me an emergency c-section” Chetram further recounted.  The doctor reportedly turned down her request stating that a patient cannot request a C-section process. Chetram went on to endure hours in labour until she reportedly started getting “short of breath”.

She claimed that as she was getting weaker, she continued to beg each doctor that came into the labour room for a C-Section. “One of the doctors bring a syringe and she tell me open my mouth when I open me mouth is something like a sweet sugar water and she said that go give me energy”, Chetram said but it did not help.

After 12 hours, they finally decided on a C-section, but it was probably too late, Chetram said.  She said while they were operating on her, one of the doctors asked if she was conscious to hear them. She responded yes and that was when they broke the first tragic news to her. “She said that how your womb tear and we ga fuh take it out suh I turn and seh okay” Chetram Said.

Losing her womb did not bother too much at first because for her Athena would have been her last child. That was the last thing Chetram remembered. The next thing Chetram recalled is the doctors pinching her and asking if she was alright. After she responded, they took her to the recovery room. As the medication started wearing off, Chetram was eager to see her baby but she was notified by a pediatrician that there were complications during the process and Athena was being treated.  The pediatrician then asked for a contact for a close relative.

“She left and she go away and then I started crying because when she tell duh all kind of thing start going through me head”, Chetram said while adding, “because all the time I saying I want this C-section but the delay of the time duh is wa I say the delay it cause duh”

Her heart would be broken even further when the pediatrician returned a second time this time with the news that Chetram did not want to hear.  “She turn and say Ms. Chetram, baby just passed away. When she said that like I didn’t have words anymore fuh say because I start crying”, Chetram recalled. Although Chetram has children she was left distraught not only because she lost her child but because it was her husband’s first baby. “And it does hurt me fuh know now that he can’t get that vision that he always wanted, is something that would a really make he happy. I know that fuh sure,” she said before recalling the moment he first laid eyes on their dead daughter. “When he see he daughter he couldn’t a really hold it in when see he daughter for the first time”

Still in recovery, Chetram began seeking answers because she believes that had the doctors granted her request then things would have turned out differently. During a meeting with the maternity department, Chetram said she was told that the hospital was only following legal protocols when the doctors turned down her request for a C-Section. “First thing you have to know is that in any system in the world especially in the Caribbean and Guyana we don’t do c-section based on maternal request- what does that mean, it means a patient cannot come and say they want c-section, A C-section must get an indication,” Chetram recalled being told by an official of the department. She was told that there was no indication at the time that she needed a C-Section and the time she spent in labour was normal. “So, what the doctors do in order to get a c-section you had to see whether there was a problem with baby or there was a problem with mom,” the official further explained, according to Chetram adding “As long as the tracing we do for baby is correct we call it a category one meaning the baby heart is good normal and beating through the labour and so forth. We cannot take a patient just like that to do a c-section.”

The GPHC, however, maintains that it followed all legal protocols and prioritised saving Chetram’s life after complications arose. “The best thing would have been to save your life, so it turned into lifesaving surgery,” the head of GPHC’s maternity department told Chetram.

The hospital is also maintaining that in Chetram’s case she was always at risk of losing her womb because she was a Grand multiparity patient.  A Grand multiparity describes a patient who has given birth five or more times and according the GPHC Maternity Department Head Chetram was at risk. “So that is a risk factor for that patient meaning the (uterus) muscle when it goes through so much delivery so much labour it gets tainted it doesn’t have the tone and same consistency and so forth like that”, the head of the maternity unit explained.

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• Athena, baby, GPHC, Mother, Nelissa Chetram

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