FAMILY DEMANDS ANSWERS AFTER EXPECTANT MOM DIES AT HOSPITAL
Family demands answers after expectant mom dies at Hanover hospital
LUCEA, Hanover — Twentyfive-year-old Sakile Stewart, who was due to give birth early this month, died on Monday at Noel Holmes Hospital in Lucea, Hanover — four days after being hospitalised for high blood pressure.
The medical staff was also unable to save her unborn child.
Distraught family members, who are adamant that the expectant mother died as a result of negligence, are now demanding answers.
Speaking to the Jamaica Observer following a meeting with senior members of the hospital staff on Wednesday, Stewart’s distressed relatives said they were told that the 25year-old hairdresser, who was of a Esher, Hanover address, died after labour was induced.
According to Stewart’s boyfriend, Romario Murray, she went to the hospital for a routine antenatal check-up last Thursday when she was admitted because of high blood pressure.
“While she was at the clinic for regular checks, they noticed that her blood pressure was a bit high. So they admitted her to treat the [blood] pressure and said as soon as it goes down she would have been discharged,” he recounted.
Murray, who was looking forward to welcoming his first child on October 11, reflected that when he visited Stewart on Monday she was in high spirits.
“She was in good health, she was doing perfectly. We joked, we laughed and everything. She wasn’t in any pain or anything. I told her to have baby early,” a grief-stricken Murray shared.
“I was informed that they would have to take the baby [from her] because the baby is causing the [high blood] pressure. [But] she never made it to labour or anything, she just died on the bed there.
They induced her [at] 12:30 pm,” he said.
On Wednesday, Murray’s mother, a hysterical Almena Martin — who was disappointed that the child who would have been her first grandson didn’t make it — blamed the medical staff for her daughterin-law’s death.
“They said she developed tightness of chest and coughed up blood, and it happened quickly. It can’t happen so quickly. Things don’t just happen so; something went wrong. No report on what happened, you going tell me you don’t have all the information? What are they working off of? Nothing? He would have been my first grandchild.
“I miss having a grandchild, but how they couldn’t save the girl [Stewart]?” she lamented.
The hospital’s Senior Medical Officer Dr Patrice Monthrope, who expressed condolences to the bereaved relatives, told the Observer that an investigation has been launched into the tragic incident. He was part of the team that met with the family members at the hospital on Wednesday morning.
“It’s a difficult time, we are going to do all we can to find out what caused it and as soon as those information becomes available, we will share it with the family members,” Dr Monthrope said.
“We are very transparent, everything we have is open to them [family members],” he continued. “We want to extend our condolences to them and, at this time, we also want to provide support to them. [It is] clearly a tragic occurrence.”
The relatives, however, expressed that they were upset that they were not provided with enough information during the meeting with the hospital staff.
“We still have to wait until the autopsy is done. So this is just to send condolences is the only purpose I see for this meeting, because it is not giving us enough information. They keep telling us we don’t [have] medical [knowledge] so we won’t understand everything. Something went wrong [and] I think it is negligence,” Murray insisted.
Stewart’s brother, Dadrian Stewart, agreed with him.
“We just had the meeting with the team. What they are saying is that they can’t really provide us with the type of information because they have to await the autopsy. They told us they don’t get all the information and we honestly need information now. I am really demanding information about what happened,” the dejected brother said.
“I am really traumatised. My sister and I were really, really close. I looked forward to seeing her coming home with the baby. The day she passed it was a couple minutes before I went and bought her welcome-home cake, her welcome-home sign, and the balloons to really welcome her home, and a few minutes after the call that we got was that she passed,” he added.
THE mother of the threeyear-old boy, who last week sparked public outcry after he was seen in a widely circulated video smoking and drinking at the urging of adults, according to her attorney, is “very remorseful”.
Attorney Maisha Wilson Campbell yesterday argued successfully for her client’s release on bail before the St Catherine Parish Court.
The boy from the video and his siblings have been placed in the custody of his maternal grandmother by the courts.
“A di dawg birthday today enuh, man. Puff it out again ‘Minty’, tek two pull outta it again. How yuh mean, birthday boy!” a male was heard in the video encouraging the toddler, who, having taken a drag of the cigarette, coughed and was handed a bottle of what appeared to be an alcoholic beverage for him to take a swig.
With that coughing episode behind him, he was again encouraged, “Puff it out again, Minty, tek two pull out of it again.”
The toddler, clad only in underwear, wordlessly complied, clutching his tiny hands to his jaws and shaking his head from side to side as he smoked.
Members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force last week launched a frantic search for the toddler, in collaboration with the Office of the Children’s Advocate and other State agencies, resulting in the child’s mother being taken into custody for questioning. Following a court appearance, the boy and his siblings were temporarily put at a place of safety.
Following two court dates this week, the Jamaica Observer learnt that the boy and his three siblings are no longer at the State facility.
“All four children have been taken out of State care and are with the grandmother. We are comfortable with the assessment that was done as to her ability to care for them, with the necessary support, which will be provided in keeping with the Supervision Order made by the court,” Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison told the Observer on Wednesday.
The boy’s mother, whose bail was yesterday secured in the sum of $150,000, was told by the judge that while she was allowed to make contact with the other three children, she would be restricted from interacting with the three-yearold. Her attorney said the order placing the children with their grandmother was a temporary one, and that it is hoped that the matter of their being returned to their mother’s care would be resolved by November 5 when she is expected to return to court.
According to Wilson Campbell, it is likely that the courts will return the children to their mother, who has been charged with child endangerment.
“Yes, because she is seeking assistance in terms of how she raises her children. She is seeking counselling, so the court is not averse to that. She will get the assistance needed.
I would say, in the very near future, that is a possibility,” the attorney said.
As to the issue of whether she would be deemed a fit and proper parent, Wilson Campbell said “that will also have to be established by the Family Court and the Probation Department, so the agencies will have to be working along with each other to come to a final decision”.
Asked how her client explained how her child came to be in the situation depicted in the video, the attorney said: “I would say it’s just youthful exuberance and just being hyped up, and the surroundings caused such a reaction, but she is very remorseful and she regrets her actions and she just wants to move on with her life and be reunited with her children.”
The woman has now returned to her community, the Observer was told.