Last week, a four-year-old boy died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit after a minor operation to suture his tongue somehow went awry.
According to information from Jaden Mars’s family, he had been playing at home when he tripped and bit his tongue. He was first taken to the health centre in his community, where a referral was given for the GPH. It should be noted here that Jaden’s condition was in no way critical at the time he was taken to the GPH and that his mother has stated that prior to his accident at home, he was healthy.
At the GPH, it was determined by medical personnel that the injury to Jaden’s tongue was such that it required repair treatment. Information widely available online with regard to injuries to the tongue reveal that tongue lacerations are often the result of a fall, a seizure, or if the person was hit with something. These generally do not become infected and heal on their own because of the tongue’s generous blood supply. Repair is required when there is more than one wound, if there is persistent bleeding or if the wound/s is/are larger than a centimetre in length. It is not yet known which if any of these conditions existed but one hopes that such information was ascertained during the just completed investigation.
It was reported too, that a general anaesthethic had apparently been prescribed for Jaden so that he would be asleep during the procedure. He was reportedly given a second dose of whatever medication was prescribed after the first apparently did not have the desired effect. From reports, it would appear that he was still alert at the time he was taken to theatre, an indication that the second dose also did not appear to have the desired effect. What it is hoped the investigation would also address, is whether sufficient time had elapsed between the two doses of anaesthetic being given and whether it would not have been prudent to have waited for a while longer in case there was for some reason a delay in his reaction to the medication.
The investigation should also bring out whether any more medication was administered while he was in the theatre. Other questions that should have been asked and answered include whether the physician who determined that surgery was the best course had sufficient experience with such injuries; whether the prescribed dosage of anaesthetic for the child’s age and weight was administered and if it was administered correctly. But perhaps the most pertinent question that the investigation should provide an answer for is whether the care afforded Jaden at the GPH was of the desired quality.
Just over three years ago, seven-year-old Quincy Softleigh Jr, died after he was belatedly admitted to the hospital with a back injury. According to information, Quincy was taken to the GPH after he fell and hit his back while playing. He was treated with an injection and sent home with some Panadol for the pain.
After they saw no improvement in his condition, the child’s parents took him back to the hospital, where he saw a different doctor and was admitted. It was determined that he had developed spinal complications and was unable to use his legs. He subsequently had two operations and then died. His parents had claimed that a number of dismissive and objectionable statements had been made to them by nursing staff during their son’s hospitalisation. But most telling was their statement that the second doctor seemed upset when he looked at their son’s x-ray and commented that he ought to have been admitted from the first time he visited the hospital. Here again, the issue of the quality of care afforded to patients is in question.
Incidents such as these, along with the GPH’s abysmal record with regard to maternal deaths serve only to earn the hospital a bad name. One reckons that neither the entire institution nor all of its staff deserve to be tarred with the same brush. There have been success stories, but these pale in comparison to the unexplained loss of life in cases where this ought not have occurred. After all, people seek health care in order to live.
One hopes that the truth about what went wrong in Jaden Mars’s case emerges and that whoever might have been at fault is ultimately held responsible.
