Family calls for probe into death of national powerlifter at Diamond Hospital

– says attitude of staff unbecoming

Family members of Rawndel Clementson, late national powerlifting champion and resident of Farm, East Bank Demerara, are calling for a thorough investigation into the operation of the Diamond Regional Hospital, and are holding that institution responsible for the death of their loved one.

Rawndel Clementson, 44, passed away one hour after he was admitted to the hospital. He had reportedly complained of feeling unwell, and without hesitation, his wife Oslyn Richards had taken him to the hospital.
Upon arriving at the facility, Clementson had informed the nurses and doctors about the difficulty he was having in breathing and the dizziness he was experiencing, and had requested an oxygen mask. However, the hospital staff had reportedly responded with an attitude, speaking harshly and claiming to have protocols to follow that could not be influenced.
Despite the urgency of Clementson’s condition, he was instructed to wait. It was while he was awaiting medical attention that he reportedly fainted, thus causing him to lose balance and fall off the chair in which he was sitting. As a result of that fall, he hit his head and died almost immediately.
The aggrieved wife, in recounting the harrowing experience, stated that when her husband fell to the ground, she called for assistance. The hospital staff allegedly stated that he was too heavy to be lifted, and Richards had to seek help from a security guard and her son while the nurse had rudely walked away.
“I took out my phone to record, and they asked me to leave. About 20 minutes later, they called me in and said they couldn’t detect a pulse. I begged them to do more, and started to pray,” Richards said.
Richards has expressed her profound distress in describing the experience at the hospital as horrific. She has accused the hospital staff of rudeness and a lack of care, and is urging the authorities to thoroughly investigate her husband’s death and address the alleged misconduct at the medical facility.
“They had nobody to lift him and put him on the bed… I need someone to look into this and hold those nurses accountable. If they don’t take action, this will continue. We are losing lives every day…they were calm while the family was in distress…it was as if it was just another dead body, and they went about their business,” she expressed.
The suddenness of Clementson’s death shocked his family, as he had been working the day before and seemed fine. A postmortem examination conducted on Wednesday revealed that his cause of death was complications arising from high blood pressure.
However, efforts to obtain comments from officials at the Ministry of Health regarding the matter have been unsuccessful.
In April 2021, the Diamond Hospital had undergone significant renovations, totalling over $200 million, in order to operate as a Smart Health Care Facility.
However, according to this family, this recent tragedy has brought the hospital’s standards of care into question, and has highlighted the need for a comprehensive review of its operations to ensure the well-being and safety of patients.
This is not the first time this medical institution has come in for heavy criticism from members of the public. The main contention is the manner in which citizens are treated and spoken to at the medical facility.