A newborn suffered a fractured shoulder and respiratory failure during delivery at the Georgetown Public Hospital and his mother is laying the blame squarely on the shoulders of the hospital staff.
“They said the baby too big and to get him out they have to position him to get him out. They said that that make the shoulder length of his arm fracture,” were the words of Jaenann Roberts, whose son Delon Immanuel, suffered a fractured right shoulder while being delivered at the Georgetown Public Hospital. Roberts spoke with Stabroek News holding her son, who is wearing a cast on his shoulder and arm, as she recounted her unpleasant delivery.
Roberts said that she began feeling labour pains on March 25 and went to the hospital where she was admitted and taken to the delivery room at 11:30 pm. Her son weighed 12lbs when he was delivered at 12am the next day. She complained that her delivery not only fractured her son’s shoulder but he also experienced difficulty breathing following the delivery. She said that her son spent a week in the incubator because he was unable to breathe on his own and the doctors have informed her that he sustained the fractured arm because of the position he was in while exiting her body.
Roberts opined that the midwife who was with her during the delivery was negligent as well as the doctor who re-positioned the baby while he was stuck in the midst of the birth. The mother of four explained that during her delivery she endured unbearable pain and informed the midwife that she could no longer push to have the baby delivered without further assistance. But the midwife told her that she had to continue pushing on her own. She said that she told the midwife several times that it was becoming too difficult to push and that as she pushed she became too weak to continue but the midwife insisted that she would have to continue.
By this time the midwife had become upset with her for complaining and was about to leave the room. “She was going to walk out of the room to leave me to let me push on my own. I turned and said ‘how you going to walk out the room with the baby head stuck there?’” Roberts recalled and that after she called out to the midwife, the woman decided to call for the doctor instead. “So she called the doctor to see the situation and when the doctor came, the doctor had to call other doctors to help to get him out from me,” Roberts continued.
She said that when the doctors took over the situation, the doctor in charge said that the baby is big and that he is stuck. After he said that, she then told him that she would not be able to push any further. However, by this time the doctor seemed to have already figured out that the baby would need to be re-positioned because of his size and space. According to Roberts, the doctor seemed nervous about the situation and after having four other doctors join him in the delivery room, they began moving the baby around while he was still insider her and with his head still stuck in the birth canal.
After the re-positioning, she was able to push the baby out but he was gasping for air very loudly. The doctors later informed her that the child’s shoulder was fractured due to the position he was in while exiting her body and that he would be placed in the incubator for breathing support. According to the doctor, Dillon was too big and for this reason he had to be positioned in a way that would make it easier for him to be delivered. She said that was all she was told.
Roberts said that after her son was discharged, she was asked why she didn’t seem happy to take her son home. The hurt and upset mother said “how I going to be happy because my child coming out? With a broken arm, with a cast on it. I never look after a baby with a broken arm. I am nervous,” Roberts said. She added that x-rays were done but even though she repeatedly asked to see the x-rays none was shown to her.
Roberts said that before the doctor started to attend to her, he scolded the midwife for her negligent handling of the situation. She said that the doctor asked the midwife why she hadn’t alerted him sooner and that because of how nervous he seemed, she has reason to believe the doctor was aware that complications would follow because of the negligence.
She also noted that the doctors gave no reassurance, nor did they engage in any discussion concerning how the baby’s shoulder would heal or when the cast will be ready to come off and she supposes that she will have to go to the hospital’s clinic to find that out.
