Doctors veto surgery, mother says
Medical personnel yesterday decided against removing the bullet lodged in the chest of the young woman who was shot by an ex-boyfriend on Tuesday night, telling her relatives that the surgery could leave her paralysed.
“This ain’t mek no sense,” Sophia Pitman said yesterday, her voice muffled by an oxygen mask, as she lay on a hospital bed with tears in her eyes.
Pitman, 22, of La Grange, West Bank Demerara, and the mother of a two-year-old, was shot in the right-side breast by an ex-boyfriend on Tuesday night while making her way from work to her mother’s Robb Street home. She is now a patient in the High Dependency Unit of the Georgetown Hospital.
Sophia Pitman
Police yesterday said that no arrests have been made.
Her mother, Rosalyn John, told Stabroek News from her Robb Street home last night that after closely monitoring Sophia’s condition all day yesterday, doctors had told her that they would no longer be performing the operation to remove the bullet, which they had early said she had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving.
Pitman, who ended the relationship with her attacker some time back and moved on with someone else, could only manage a few words to relatives at the hospital yesterday. She was wearing an oxygen mask and there was a glass jar nearby, almost filled with fluid that had drained out of her body. Pitman was in distress, repeatedly shaking her head as she muttered words under her breath.
The worry over her daughter’s condition was evident on the face of John who had told this newspaper on the night of the incident that she was clueless as to what led to the attack. She was unaware of any grievances between Pitman and her ex-boyfriend, she said.
John said yesterday that what she has gathered was that two persons grabbed her daughter’s arms from behind, holding her still, while the suspect discharged a round, which hit her in the right-side breast.
This newspaper was told that the woman arrived at the hospital some 20 minutes after the incident in a terrible condition but doctors managed to stabilise her.
John said that earlier yesterday, the family was told by the nurses that the bullet was lodged in a bad place and if Pitman were taken to surgery she had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving. She said the nurses had advised them to get something for Pitman to eat and drink after which she would be observed.
John said Pitman had some food and drank some liquid but began crying out for pain. An injection was then administered to ease that discomfort.
It was much later yesterday, John said, that she was advised that a decision was made not to attempt to remove the bullet, since her daughter could be left paralyzed.
Meanwhile, she revealed that checks were made at the suspect’s North Road home, but he was not found. She said it is believed that he is hiding out in Linden.
In a statement, police said yesterday that they are investigating the shooting. According to police, the shooting occurred at 8 pm at the junction of Robb and Cummings streets, Bourda. Pitman was walking along the roadway when she was confronted by the man with whom she had recently ended a relationship. He pulled out a handgun and shot her to her right-side chest and escaped. Pitman was rushed to the hospital.
this guy should not be free if caught jail for life or die by hanging this is my judgement jelous mind can kill so it is a sin see what it make the foll did pitman get well soon and good will do it just pray
Men are such cowards!
i think you mean…men like him are such cowards……..
I have read most of the responses to this article entitled: “Woman shot in chest by spurned lover”, but I would differ my views somewhat to the others. It is indeed sad to hear about what has happened and my sympathy goes out to the victim and family.
What I would first like to say is this: instead of calling the young man all sort of names we need to investigate why he did what he did. Some might allude his action/s to that of a jealous lover, but it might not be so either. Some of these young women does want a man to spend his last on her and then all a sudden she doesn’t want him no more, she goes out and get a new lover because he has more money than the other. Don’t get me wrong, I am not condoning that men should harm women but I think when relationships are ended, it should be done at a level where both individuals are counselled and grievances with each other are settled.
It is sometimes very difficult to walk away when you love the woman with all of your heart and then suddenly she woke up and realised that you are not the man for her. My personal belief is that relationships should be ended with counselling. If married persons can get counselling so are unmarried people. We need desperately to have institutions like the Police Force taking up some role in this or Human Services Ministry.
There are a hundred reasons why people leave each other. This is Guyana you talking about,Counselling Where???????????
Guyanese men need the counselling, They like to use cutlass and guns too quick. There is no problem with the Women, De men got de problem.
If a woman give he blow, move on, she dont like yu no mo.
If she got a sweetman, that is her choice.
All a we men guilty , guilty, guilty, for exactly doing the same thing.
Le me see how many of you bloggers will fess up to this, Come on OPEN UP,
Lets Talk,
This is 2008 , leave them alone, get another. Women nuff.
You can always get a Jiffy Lube.
Dont chop or shoot them.
I you cant tek de blows, GOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Bunk,,,if he loved her, he would understand,,,,,if he loved her he would have set her free, instead, he treated her like a piece of property, or like a dog, or sheep….as far as i’m concerned, there is nothing to understand, this is just the mentality of the Guyanese man, and to some extent men on the whole.
We are not all alike. There is a chemical imbalance in some people and they cannot function in society as others do. Unable to police themselves.So we have do it for them. By puting these dangerous freaks away. For life in a Mazaruni rock busting quarry.
Caesar – well said, but for a brief moment forget about chemical imbalance. The youths of Guyana are led. They need to follow ….they are followers….. sad as it may be! So make an example of a few, then the others will fall in line. All of today’s criminals were born in the 80s-90s and have no respect for themselves or others. So you have to make them respect something. I remember the days of the Black Maria 60s (black police van) that if criminals saw… they split the area. This is the mentality that needs to prevail in Guyana today. Criminals should FEAR the law. Before I left Guyana in the early 70s it used to be straight finger pickpockets and a choke n rob. Brown Betty had a good chicken n the rough. The seawalls was fun and peaceful, now you cannot travel to Guyana without some fool trying to take your ****** or breaking into your home. Quite a few of my colleagues from Guyana (and myself) want to go home with our children and grandchildren so they can see where we came from, but we do not want to travel because of the crap that is going on. Clean up this …… so that productive people can go back to Guyana to build. All the Political Parties in Guyana should make security of the Guyanese citizens their theme and stop blaming each other for this crap. The hard core criminals or all criminals as a matter of fact are not conducive to Guyana. Get rid of them!!!
Hoping that Mrs Pitman recovered very fast
Guyana needs an active participation on all levels of government to efectivly manage the problem of abuse towrds women(and to prevent incidents like Ms. Pitman´s), we see that this takes alot of factores into consideration like the education that one recives in the home as well as the easy access to guns in our beloved country.
It is hoped that in the near future our society can be one free of violence towards women entirley.
Swat, I share your opinion regarding the doctors attitude towards this patient’s mother.However, I feel people should be empowered to ask questions of their physicians.Gone are the days when doctors feel that they are gods.oops, some may still feel that they are.That being said,there are situations where surgical interventions does not help immediately.Question, what diagnostic tests were performed to ascertain the position of the bullet?If the physicians have ordered the appropiate tests like xrays, CT and they have the results,they are duty bound to discuss the findings with the patient and ,or family.However, a second opinion never hurts.I hope this young lady gets the care she deserves, and they find this moron that shot her and jail him for life?By the way, where are his parents?
GOPIE, who is madder than someone who leaves Guyana to live in Canada,,,CANADA the most repressive society in North America, truth be told Canadians are not happy people, and judging from your anger and “NAME CALLING”, i guess you arn’t either, but this is just a forum where we get together to talk and hold friendly discussions, not to name call.
LINDENBANNA, Firstly i am not a citizen of Canada….its too cold for me …..I am happy in the UK , AND MORE HAPPY WHEN I GO HOME WHICH I DO QUITE OFTEN….I HAVE HUGH INVESTMENTS HERE IN THE UK THAT IS WHY I AM HERE AND I AM HAPPY. If i offend you in any way i am sorry,but please next time write some sensible articles in your comments……………
well i hope she get the help that she needs,because this sounds like a very serious injury.
Hi SOESDYKE, the sportsmen that hunt, ARE part of the problem,,,Remember guns weather in hunting or otherwise, the primary purpose is to KILL, and COMMIT CRIMES, is there any other purpose for a GUN, Guns cannot protect you .