The original article can be found in: Trinidad Express By Carolyn Kissoon
The relatives of Sasha Ali-Bisnath have served legal documents on two medical institutions requesting her medical records.
Her cousin Damian Baboolal said the letters were delivered to the San Fernando General Hospital and the Gulf View Medical Centre in La Romaine yesterday.
“We don’t have an issue with the San Fernando hospital; they are organising that at this time. But we didn’t get the records from the nursing home.
“The manager spoke with us and said they will contact our attorneys. I don’t believe this is how it should be because they told us to get a legal document requesting the medical records and we will have access to them. We did that and the records were not handed to us,” he said.Ali-Bisnath’s relatives are determined to find out what caused her to bleed to death following a routine Caesarean section at the nursing home. She was transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital where she died last week Friday.
Ali-Bisnath delivered a healthy baby girl at the private nursing home the day before she died. The baby was named Siara Lysa Dalia Bisnath.
Ali-Bisnath, 28, and her husband, Damien, also have a two-year-old daughter, Solara.
Her uncle Bishu Baboolal said, “We have applied for the records from the nursing home in South, and we have also applied for the records from the San Fernando General Hospital. We have a family attorney who will examine these records and then we will decide the way forward.
“We are hearing a lot of medical terms that we can’t interpret. We understand she died from a condition that arises when the blood don’t clot. We want to know what led to that. It is something very strange, but we would like to know what caused that and why it took so long for her to get attention after giving birth.”Baboolal said Ali-Bisnath’s husband was invited to a meeting at the nursing home after his wife died.
“They gave him the antenatal card, not her medical records. This young woman was taken away from us at such a young age, leaving behind her two young children,” he said.
Ali-Bisnath’s mother, Leela Ali, also appealed for closure in her daughter’s death. She said her daughter’s death could have been prevented. “If they wasn’t so careless in the nursing home, my daughter wouldn’t bleed to death today. If they had taken a little more care of my child; they left my child unattended for so long.
“If they had taken some action in the beginning when my child first started to bleed, something could have been done. When the doctor saw the first set of bleeding and they didn’t take care of my child, they left my child to bleed till we couldn’t do anything any more,” she said.
Ali said her daughter’s two surviving children were her greatest concern. “This little girl (Solara) asking for her mommy. I don’t know what to tell her. I know my daughter will want me to take the best care of her children, and I will try best to fulfil this promise,” she said.
The Express contacted the Gulf View Medical Centre for a comment on Ali-Bisnath’s death yesterday. A senior official said, “The person to make a statement is unavailable at this time. I can contact him and let you know.”Yesterday, the Express, via text message, asked Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan what was the status of the investigation into the death of Ali-Bishath at the Gulf View Medical Centre, and Khan responded via text, “I have obtained the legal opinion for me to act as minister.”
In 2011, Chrystal Ramsoomair bled to death following an allegedly botched C-section surgery at the San Fernando General Hospital. Ramsoomair, 29, left a husband, Lorne Ramsoomair; a five-year-old son, Christian; an 18-month-old daughter, Sarah; and the newborn baby Danielle behind.
Lorne Ramsoomair extended condolences to Ali-Bisnath’s family yesterday. “I can’t say much because of legal restrictions, but I want to extend my deepest condolences to the family. They can call on me at any time for assistance, he said.
