Last night you heard John Haylock complain that negligence at the KHMH led to the death of his wife Josefa. The KHMH had no comment really – only to say that it had not received any formal complaint from Haylock. But today after our story, an Amandala headline, and chatter on the morning talk shows – the KHMH senior management held a press conference to say that they did nothing wrong. I was there, and here’s what they had to say.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
“I am absolutely convinced that there is nothing wrong in this case.” Those are the words of KHMH Chief Executive Officer Dr. Alvaro Rosado as he addressed the press concerning the death of one of their patient’s forty two year old Josefa “Josephine” Cal Haylock. In fact hospital authorities say the autopsy showed that Josefa died due to broncho-aspiration, a form of suffocation due to contents either in the mouth or stomach. The post mortem was conducted by pathologist Dr. Hugh Sanchez.
Dr. Hugh Sanchez, Pathologist
“It is a finding you get at the post mortem, when you examine the wind pipe. Normally you should have a lightly pink color, hers was quite. We use the word angry red which would suggest that some irritant, i.e. gastric fluid, may have gone down there and irritate the passage.”
But KHMH authorities were unable to say what triggered the cause of death. Dr. Sanchez says there was no presence of infection nor sepsis. Josefa died five weeks after giving birth. There is also the issue of a broken needle that occurred following the operation. Dr. Jose Guerra not only explained how it happened but that the broken sharp object was immediately recovered.
Dr. Jose Guerra, Gynecologist
“So I did the fourth cesarean, so when I removed the old scar, it stayed like fibrotic tissue, tissue that’s very hard – the skin. So when we were putting the last stitch, to finish the needle broke on the skin. But we noticed it so immediately we searched for the needle and we took it out so I don’t know what was the problem.”
Dr. Guerra says the patient’s cut was properly cleaned and closed and in no way did the broken needle or the procedure caused the death. Guerra says when Josefa returned to KHMH after falling ill, it was not because of any infected womb.
Dr. Jose Guerra,
“They admit that patient as an infected womb but that patient wasn’t infected, she was just red, she wasn’t infected because she was admitted one day and then the following day I sent her home. I just admitted her, just as routine for anti-biotic and then she was sent home. If they saw the chart, the womb was cleaned.”
The medical officials say what the patient appeared to have was dengue because she had the symptoms like fever, chills and pain. But they do not believe that to be the case. KHMH officials say they are not negligent and although the deceased’s widower John Haylock Sr. did not lodge a formal complaint they did assist him.
Dr. Alvaro Rosado, CEO – KHMH
“He has visited on a number of occasions but it has basically been to collect information. On each occasion his questions have been very pointed, ‘this I want this, I want that and this,’ and that sort of thing and then he would return for more. He was give a full copy as I said, I think there might have been, about 200 pages of medical records. He indicated to me that he was not happy with the death of his wife, which I can understand, and that he was looking into trying to find out what caused it and what went wrong and that sort of thing but he didn’t make a complaint. But we satisfied all his queries.”
KHMH authorities also explained why she was only readmitted to the KHMH until after the third visit following the delivery.
Dr. Khalid Ghazy, Director of Medical Services – KHMH
“And when the patient is feeling better and she is a nursing mother and she wants to go home, I don’t think the doctor really sometimes will insist that the patient has to stay if she is complaining that she was feeling better and everything was well. The standard procedure we have in here is after the second, sometimes the third visit to the emergency room within 24 hours, the patient should be admitted and I think after the third she was admitted to the hospital but whatever reason, because of the hurricane threat or because she wanted to self-discharge, I am not sure about that, but that was also taken into consideration. Antibiotics as a standard procedure for infections was given. The patient wasn’t really denied of any treatment or any investigation if deemed necessary for that patient.”
But while there may be more questions than answers to this medical dilemma. One thing is certain that the matter will end in the courts because John Haylock Sr. has decided to pursue his legal options.
John Haylock, Sr., Widower
“I am not satisfied with what they are saying is the reason that caused her to die. There were obvious negligence while she was hospitalized there. There was obvious evidence, and we have proof and evidence to give towards that.”
And while Haylock is ready to talk to his attorney, he has not formally made a complaint to the KHMH – or at least not yet.
