THE parents of one of the 19 premature babies who died from a bacterial infection at two of the country’s major hospitals said they were not made aware of the problem during the three weeks that their son was ill.
According to Sheldon Spencer and Danielle McKenzie, doctors at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) were not specific with them regarding the cause of their baby’s illness, but rather told them that he just had a bacterial infection.
Spencer and McKenzie were very emotional when they spoke to the Jamaica Observer yesterday and frequently asked for a few moments to compose themselves.
“Our son’s name is Dimitri Penglas Spencer,” the father said as he recounted the details surrounding the death of his first-born from klebsiella.
Dimitri was born at the UHWI on June 23 and died on August 14 at 10:15 am.
“For the first three weeks he got sick every week,” McKenzie told the Observer. “They gave him antibiotics and he would get better. It wasn’t until after the post-mortem that they told us he had klebsiella.”
They said they were hurt that former health minister, Dr Fenton Ferguson, did not make a worthwhile apology to the parents on behalf of the health sector until he needed to save himself after making his “I don’t want anyone to give any impression that these are babies in the real sense” remark in Parliament.
“He has a callous, careless tongue,” the mother said before questioning the sincerity of Ferguson’s apology and stating that others should be held accountable for the deaths of the 19 infants.
McKenzie also stated that no counselling was offered to her following the death of her son, even though she was unsure if it would have made a difference.
She disclosed that they were allowed to take pictures of Dimitri. However, Spencer expressed some uncertainty as to why this was allowed, especially since the doctors were aware of the presence of the bacteria.
“We have a few pictures of him. We were allowed once to take pics in the nursery, which is not usually permitted. I am not sure why they did this if the area was infected, but we are grateful we got a chance to collect memories,” said Spencer.
“We would have made a different decision when we were considering transferring him to the Bustamante Hospital for Children if we were told that there were bacteria at the UHWI affecting neonates,” Spencer added.
“We do not know if the outcome would have been different, but with that knowledge we would have chosen differently.”
The mother said she was told Dimitri died as a result of the bacteria being spread through his blood and that there was growth of the bacteria in his lungs.
The parents said that the lack of information in the initial stages, accompanied by the absence of any form of compassion towards the parents following the deaths, has made the entire ordeal much worse.
They have already contacted an attorney with a view to filing a suit against the hospital.