The original article can be found in: Freeport News By Sharell Lockhart
Agonizing pain, inability to walk without assistance and restricted to non-existent bowel movements have been the daily struggle of Annie Williams-Stuart, who alleges she received serious injuries after falling out of a chair while visiting the emergency section of the Rand Memorial Hospital for treatment.
According to Williams-Stuart, since the fall more than a year ago on May 23, 2012, she has tried on numerous occasions to have the Rand Memorial Hospital and the Public Health Authority assist her in receiving an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) which would determine the exact extent of her injuries and why her physical faculties are shutting down one by one as she alleges.
“It was on May 23, 2012, that I went to the emergency section of the Rand Memorial Hospital to see a doctor as at the time I was ill.
“When I got there I followed the normal routine of signing in at the registration window to see a doctor, after I did this I went into the waiting area to take a seat.
“I found an available chair and sat down but no sooner had I done this than my legs were up in the air one second and I was sprawled across the floor the next.
“Now keep in mind at the time when I fell there was no sign in, on or around the chair to let anyone know that it was broken.
“After landing with heavy force on my backside and not being able to get up on my own, I called out for help and the hospital security along with two other gentlemen tried to help me up from the floor, however while they were helping me the security officer asked me, “Why I chose to sit there and the chair is broken?”
Highly upset by the security’s comment, Williams-Stuart said she answered the officer saying, “As big a woman as I am I would have read the sign (had one been there) and not sit there to begin with but you do not have a sign there so how was I to know the chair was broken?”
Williams-Stuart went on to state that she was in indescribable pain and asked for someone to call the doctor to assist her because not only was she ill but she had fallen from the chair due to alleged negligence on behalf of the hospital and she needed assistance right away.
Noting that she was helped to another chair, Williams-Stuart said she was scared to sit down but did so and it was not until she sat that the pain she was feeling fully manifested itself in her hips and lower back like a sharp, throbbing, sticking burning pain.
Williams-Stuart said she got up and slowly made her way to the security officer and asked again if he or anyone else could get her in front of a doctor to assist her but she alleges the officer was rude to her and told her to sit down as she was not in pain.
“I could not believe he was saying this to me, I am 56 years old, mature enough to be his mother and he was telling me I was not in pain.“I told him he does not have my feelings so how can he brush me off like that?
“Besides this I was hurt while on the hospital’s property and all I wanted was for a doctor to help me because the pain from the fall was so great,” she said.
The 56-year-old alleges that in under 20 minutes following her fall and attempts to be assisted by a doctor, someone was called out to repair the broken chair.
She revealed that in the past year she has made numerous attempts to speak with Hospital Administrator Catherine Weech in order for her to receive medical compensation to address the exact cause of her injuries but to no avail.
Williams-Stuart said she visited a number of doctors to help her with the constant pain she has had in her lower back since the fall and each doctor told her she needed to have an MRI done in order to pinpoint her exact diagnosis.
“I have been prescribed dozens of pain medication to help alleviate the pain but none are helping and day by day I am losing my mobility, I am unable to urinate as a woman my age should and I am not having a regular or proper bowel movement like I used to before the fall.
“Even more frustrating is the fact that I was promised assistance by those in authority at the Rand Memorial Hospital only after I sought the assistance of the media.
“I was told that a letter of consent for me to take an MRI in Nassau would be given to me in short order although it took just over a year of constant complaints to get it done,” she said.
Williams-Stuart revealed that she is unemployed and was under the impression that the hospital would take care of her travel to Nassau and the MRI seeing as though she was allegedly injured on the hospital’s premises.
According to Williams-Stuart she was assisted and told to come and pick up the letter to get the MRI but upon traveling to the Rand Memorial Hospital to get the letter she was allegedly told it was in Nassau and she had to go there to pick it up.
“Now I do not want it to come across as though I am ungrateful to those who have assisted me but how can I be told I have to foot the bill to pick up a letter to have this MRI done which only came about because of their negligence?
“Then I was told I have to go to Social Service for travel assistance since I cannot afford it and they are wondering what the problem is with me being in Freeport and getting the letter here so they can have everything aligned to assist me.“They too think my treatment throughout this whole thing was a slap in the face and it was not like I was suing the Rand, I just need proper assistance and the MRI to have the problem as a result of the fall correct so I can at the very least be able to walk without a cane or have normal bowel movements,” Williams-Stuart exclaimed.
She hopes that by getting her story out to the public those in authority will do right by her, be cognitive of their practices and where there may be a necessary need for improvement, to rectify it.
“All I want is to be treated fairly, I am a citizen of the Bahamas and this type of pass the buck behavior is unacceptable, while I thank those who have done their best to help me I believe it never should have come to this and improvements need to be made.
“I am sure I am not the only one a similar thing like this has happen to, however I believe they now know that like me others will not lie down and be taken advantage of.
“All are not bad but my God something must be done,” she said.
Attempts to reach Hospital Administrator Catherine Weech were unsuccessful.
