7-week-old baby dies due to medical negligence at Mahaicony Hospital – mother

By Lakhram Bhagirat

The Persaud family of Gordon Table, Mahaicony Creek, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) welcomed its youngest child on April 25, 2021, but their happiness was short-lived when, less than two months later, they were burying her miles away from their home.
Seven-week-old Varshanie Elizabeth Persaud took her last breath at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on June 13, 2021. On her death registration documents, prepared the day after her death, the cause of death is recorded as septic shock as a result of sepsis.
Lilawattie Persaud, however, has many questions as to how her healthy baby deteriorated to the point where she died. The grieving woman explained that Varshanie was her fourth child and second daughter.
She was born at 19:19h on April 25 at the Mahaicony Hospital and the birth itself was traumatic. With both of us standing in Persaud’s flooded yard, she related that after giving birth to her daughter, the placenta was not descending and the doctors at the medical facility left her to bleed for hours.
“She born healthy. She born ah Mahaicony Hospital and them (had to) rush me down to Public (GPHC). The afterbirth (placenta) nah been a come and them had to rush me down and when them rush me down (to GPHC) till one ah clock in the night the doctor them look after me. This Mahaicony Hospital hay careless because when you go there them nah got time with you. That baby born 07:19 pm them leff me till 11(pm) on the bed to bleed out. Me husband had to behave bad before them move meh. Them really careless,” the visibly distraught woman related.
She said that apart from being slightly underweight, her daughter was born healthy. The doctors, at the time, found no complications and they subsequently discharged the mother and child. When Persaud took her new daughter home, a few days after, she realised that the child’s skin was peeling.
Being an experienced mother, she knew that the level of peeling was not normal and as such, she took the child back to the Mahaicony Hospital to seek medical treatment.
“Well all the time the baby skin been a peel and me carry she to the Mahaicony Hospital and the doctor them say nothing wrong,” the 38-year-old mother related.
Persaud further explained that the doctors also told her that the baby had a rash but reiterated that it was normal.

Mahaicony Creek has been flooded for just under three months now and the woman related that she braved the high water in her yard and took her daughter back to the hospital after she developed a fever.
“Now she start to get a fever and everybody say a growing fever but me nah tek chance because the baby been small. So me carry she back and when me carry she back them admit she and from then, them start fuh give she injection all part ah she body. Dem a bore she all in the she head and so,” Persaud related.
The baby was subsequently transferred to the GPHC where she was being treated. There, her mother also related that the nurses were not allowing her to feed the child on a regular basis. She believed that the feedings were not adequate but did not argue with the authorities.
The baby’s skin was still peeling and the treatments appeared not to be working. It was then the doctors realised that the child needed to be anaesthetised in order for them to “find a vein.”
“Up to the Saturday (June 12) afternoon the baby been okay up to 3 pm and when them anaesthetic she, she never recover back till she passed away… After that them never tell me them go anaesthetic the baby till the morning when me a clean she skin, one a the nurse tell me that them had to lost she way to find some vein,” the mother said.
The woman said her daughter took her last breath between 02:30h and 03:00h on Sunday, June 13. She is also unaware as to whether a post-mortem was conducted to determine the cause of death and the doctors there did not provide a definitive answer as to what may have led to the death of 7-week-old Varshanie.
Because of the flooded condition of Mahaicony Creek, the family had to bury baby Varshanie at the Good Hope cemetery on the East Coast of Demerara.

Discrepancies with record of death
Varshanie was born on April 25, 2021, and died on June 13, 2021. However, while the record of death has the correct date of birth, the date of death is incorrectly written.
The document was prepared by the doctor (name provided) in charge of Varshanie’s case but in three places on the record, she has the incorrect date. On the document, the doctor claims that she last examined the child on April 13, 2021, prepared the record of death certificate on April 14, 2021, and that the child died on April 13, 2021.
On April 13, 2021, Varshanie’s mother was still in Mahaicony Creek dealing with floodwaters and taking care of her family while awaiting the arrival of the child.

No investigation
When asked about whether the family reported the incident to the GPHC’s Complaints Department or any authority, Persaud said “Right now in the condition we deh in here there is nothing we can do right now… Me nah go reach nobody so far because of my condition.”
When contacted on Friday, GPHC’s Communications Manager Chelauna Providence explained that she is not aware of the medical facts of the case, however, she undertook to find out the details. Additionally, the GPHC Communications Manager said she is willing to provide any assistance the family may need, including answers surrounding the death of young Varshanie.
Calls to the Regional Health Officer of Region Five, Dr Desmond Nicholson went unanswered.