- after thrown off bed by another inmate

A 21-year-old mentally ill patient of the Georgetown Hospital’s Female Observa-tion Ward died early yesterday morning after she was reportedly thrown off the bed and choked by another inmate.
Dead is Natasha Vieira.

The hospital in a press release around 3.40 yesterday afternoon said that Vieira had been discovered next to her bed around 4.30 am with marks of violence around the neck. She had been seen by a doctor and pronounced dead at 5 am and the matter had been reported to the police.

Repeated efforts to contact the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Khan yesterday afternoon proved futile.

In a release last night the police gave a different account, saying that around 2.30 am Vieira had been found lying on the floor next to her bed with blood oozing from her mouth and nostrils. The statement went on to say that another female patient of the ward reportedly had lifted Vieira off her bed and thrown her onto the floor.

When Stabroek News arrived at the hospital, many staffers said that they did not know much about the incident since it was being handled secretly by top officials of the institution’s internal security.

This newspaper was reliably informed that from all appearances the young woman who had been living in the ward for years had been choked and then stabbed. A source said that a small amount of clotted blood had been observed on the floor where the incident had taken place.

By the time the porters were called to move the body to the mortuary it was already well wrapped, this newspaper understands, and as such no one was able to see the nature of any wounds. This part of the process and the initial investigation had been closely monitored by two senior security officials attached to the hospital, this newspaper was told.

Though inmates would sometimes get into violent confrontations in the ward resulting in injuries, this is the first known case in which a patient was killed.

This newspaper was told that Vieira had been living at the institution for several years. Sources said that she was not an individual who would cause trouble and that she had kept to herself.

Reports are that all the inmates are locked together in the ward and are monitored. If a problem does arise, the hospital’s security staff are notified.