Tobago Regional Hospital Sued over baby’s death

By Caribbean Medical News Staff
Distressed and irate, twenty-five year old Kai Duncan, of Bethel, Tobago, is taking legal action against the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) for what she describes as the wrongful death of her baby. She has already sent a prior letter initiating legal action, thus making her intentions clear to have the TRHA prosecuted.

Though the death of her baby at the Scarborough General Hospital occurred last year, Duncan was visibly inconsolable when she spoke with members of the media at her lawyer’s office in Bacolet recently.
“I feel hurt. I was expecting this child as my first child and it never happened, but it affected me in certain areas meaning, when I go home and I see my baby clothes I would feel hurt,” said an aggrieved Duncan.
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According to Duncan, the last time she had any communication from the TRHA was the same month her baby died. She added that the Health Secretary Claudia Groome-Duke offered assistance for the burial of her deceased baby but she declined. She has also rejected counselling offered by the TRHA.
“Up to now I don’t have the medical report. Nobody contacted me or anything like that,” she lamented.

Father of the deceased baby, Faddel Pope said his family had also expected the arrival of a newborn baby, and is pleading for closure at this time. “My family has been very disappointed about it. They were truly looking forward because this would have been my first child. So they were very anxious to see this baby. It was very devastating to them, and they took it very hard,” stressed Pope.

When Duncan was first interviewed by a local newspaper following the tragic event, she said that ‘she was left with her dead baby in her womb overnight, and given an injection to sleep.’ She added that she waited for ‘hours’ at the hospital to be attended to while in pain, but it was too late. As a result of the debacle, the Duncan family is taking legal action through their attorney Martin George And Company.

In an official statement, George said a Medical Complaints Council is to be formed to deal with cases of ‘medical negligence’ where it may occur. He is also calling for the report on the deaths of Leciana Mitchell-Sheppard and her newborn baby, Ajani Merrie Sheppard to be released as well. Incidentally, both of those deaths occurred last year in the same month that Duncan’s baby died. (Image- T&T express)

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