COVER-UP CLAIM AS FILE GOES MISSING BABY LOSES FINGERS AT MT HOPE
THE parents of six-month-old Jaden Elijah Bhagwandass, who was accidentally burnt following alleged negligence by personnel at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC), Mt Hope, last month, are claiming a cover-up in the matter after the toddler’s medical file disappeared from the facility.
Baby Jaden lost two of his fingers and his parents, Nikita and Ravi Bhagwandass, fear that he could lose his left hand.
Nikita alleged that one of the nurses who attended to her baby placed an intravenous line into the back of Jaden’s left hand.
But it appeared that the needle was misdirected and did not enter a vein in Jaden’s hand but instead flowed onto his skin.
“It was not noticed by the nurses who were assigned to my child and (fluid) ran on to his three fingers and killed the fingers. His index finger fell off and we are afraid that he may lose the hand because the other two are damaged and are in a bad condition,” Nikita said. “Imagine he went in the (EWMSC) because of vomiting and diarrhoea, and left with his hand burn up and now his fingers dropping off one by one. You think that is fair and right? We want justice in this matter and we want it now,” Nikita said.
Baby Jaden was born on April 20 at the Point Fortin Area Hospital.
In 2007 baby Justin Paul was also badly burnt at the EWMSC.
In that incident, baby Justin, one of twin boys born prematurely on April 17 that year, was burnt after a hot water bottle, wrapped in a towel, was placed in the incubator to keep the baby warm. Two nurses—a registered nurse and an enrolled nursing assistant (ENA)—at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital, were dismissed by the North Central Regional Health Authority for negligence surrounding the incident where Justin sustained second degree burns.
Nikita and Ravi, who live at Rousillac, on Monday evening appeared on the Crime Watch programme hosted by Ian Alleyne on WinTV, and spoke about their baby’s plight.
After the programme, Alleyne said he had received a telephone call from Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis regarding the incident.
Baptiste-Cornelis yesterday met with Alleyne and the toddler’s parents at her office and promised an investigation into the incident.
Nikita said the Minister gave the assurance that her ministry would retain a skin specialist to assess the condition of her son’s hand, before a determination could be made on whether baby Jaden should be sent abroad for treatment.
During a telephone interview shortly after meeting with Baptiste-Cornelis, Nikita said, on July 22, baby Jaden was admitted to the EWMSC after he began feeling unwell.
She added that sometime between July 23 and 24, she and her husband realised their son’s left hand was red in colour and began to swell.
“We started to follow up and the doctors began to cover it up. They did not want us to know what had happened. Up to now we have not gotten an explanation as to what happened,” she said.
Extracted From: Trinidad Express Newspaper
Published on Oct 26, 2010