Dear Editor,
With regard to an article published in the August 4 edition of the Kaieteur News captioned, ‘Mom believes poor patient care caused newborn’s death,’ the management of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation has the following response. Based on the headline and content of this article, the patient’s main contentions are that the nursing staff on duty communicated with her in an undesirable manner and had more attention been paid to her, her baby would have survived. Following a thorough review of the case, the following were noted:
1. The patient was admitted to the Pre-natal Ward, GPHC at 22:15h on July 31, 2012 after having spent four days at the West Demerara Regional Hospital, from where she was referred to the GPHC for mild hypertension. She delivered within four hours of her arrival at the hospital, during which time she had laboratory tests run, was examined every half hour and received the prescribed medications.
2. The nursing staff explained that the advice given to the patient at the time (her not being allowed to go to the washroom) was necessary to preserve both the patient’s and infant’s life. Subsequent to several physical examinations, it was found that the patient was not ready to deliver and had she continued to ‘push’ she may have caused severe injury to her unborn child.
It must be reiterated that the attending physicians determine what type of delivery is required based on their clinical assessment of the patient, resulting from their examinations, findings and the patient’s history. This patient progressed normally; there was no indication for a caesarian section nor was her condition in any critical state. Unfortunately, there was foetal demise post delivery and a post mortem examination has been conducted, the results of which will determine the cause of death.
Moreover, the hospital staff are always saddened by the death of any patient, but they will not speculate on those causes of death. However, management continues to register its deep concern with firstly, patients who make damaging and libellous claims about the hospital and its staff in the media, and secondly, media houses that publish these sensational unsubstantiated stories from people who are aggrieved and seek to blame the hospital unjustly. At the same time, management remains committed to providing quality health care to all patients of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation and will continue to explore avenues in which to improve those services for the benefit of all who utilize them.
Yours faithfully,
A Procter
Public Relations Office
Georgetown Public
Hospital Corporation
