Hours after the tragic death of her newborn, a mother of five succumbed while receiving medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on Friday.
Karen Shondell Reid and her dead baby
The child was reportedly delivered at the New Amsterdam Hospital on Thursday but the mother had to be transferred to the GPHC due to complications.
The dead woman has been identified as Karen Shondell Reid, 40, of Lot 42 Sheet Anchor East Canje, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
According to the now dead woman’s 14-year-old daughter, her mother claimed that she was prevented from eating and was only given water and cream soda on Thursday.
“She said she was hungry and they gave her three tablets and she showed me them and say that the nurse told her that she has to drink the three Cytotec tablets. She said that the doctor and that they have to give her more tablets” the teenager stated.
According to Tracy Limpkin, a cousin, they were told by doctors that the pill Reid was allegedly given is used to induce labour but because of the quantity she was given, it caused an adverse reaction.
“It dislocates the placenta and the placenta started to move and that is why she went into shock. The doctor said she was actually brain-dead because her organs started to shut down. He said they gave her blood and the blood started coming out back because it was not clotting because the body was not working well.”
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There are reports that Reid had a fall and was taken into emergency surgery. On Thursday, however, doctors performed a caesarean section to deliver the baby.
The woman’s sister, Vanessa Sampson, claimed that on Thursday she received an urgent message to report to the hospital. As she arrived, she was met by four doctors who informed her that her sister had a seizure and was rushed to the operating theatre.
“They say when they open her there was a big clot and the baby died in her and they will have to take her to Georgetown Hospital because they had to remove her womb because it was separated from somewhere…”
She said even though the doctors told her that the baby was already dead, other sources confirmed that the baby, Alegdeo Junior Ofield, lived for about one hour after delivery.
“A baby doesn’t be delivered dead and they go and bathe the baby and dress it with clothes and have a sheet around it. If a baby born dead they leave it just so,” she said.
Meanwhile, Reid was eventually transferred to the Georgetown Hospital on Friday evening.
Another sister of the now dead woman reportedly accompanied her to Georgetown. She explained that during the trip, Reid was seemly in pain but before they arrived at the hospital she had stopped responding.
At the hospital, a doctor allegedly told relatives that they received the patient brain-dead and she did not respond to treatment.
Carlita Matthews, another sister, told Guyana Times that when she reached the hospital, Reid had no pulse and her blood count was low.
“When she arrived at the Georgetown Hospital, she was taken into surgery to remove fluid from the body and to implant packs because doctors could not identify where the blood was coming from…all the blood that they give to her, she just keeps bleeding out.”
The relatives were further told that Reid suffered three heart attacks but it was the third that took her life.
The family is calling for a thorough investigation into what transpired at the New Amsterdam Hospital with respect to the medication that was administered to Reid.
The woman leaves to mourn four children.
