A Point Fortin family is demanding answers after medical officials could not account for the whereabouts of their relative, who they later found out had died hours earlier and was in the mortuary at the Point Fortin Hospital.
Relatives of mother of two Alynthea Mc Queen, 39, of Reservoir Hill, have since lodged a complaint which is being investigated by the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA).
Mc Queen, relatives said, had health complications, including kidney issues, and her feet were swollen.
On Wednesday night her common-law husband Marlon Greene and her brother took her to the health facility at the Heritage Administration Building in Point Fortin after she began experiencing breathing problems.
In an interview with Guardian Media, Greene said his wife was first taken to the “viral tent” which he did not understand, but he said the doctors were helpful. He said they gave her oxygen and she got some relief.
“The doctor diagnose her, saying that the lungs having water, a lot of fluid, so they needed to get the fluid out, which they tried to but it wasn’t successful. What they said is that she will have to go to San Fernando,” he said.
The ambulance came around 2.20 am. Greene looked on as his wife entered the ambulance not knowing that that would be the last time he would see her alive.
He recalled, “I say, ‘babe I love you, ah coming to check you in the morning,’ she say, ‘yeah babe, I want to see you.’”
He said before the ambulance left one of the paramedics got an extra tank of oxygen.
Greene arrived at the Accident and Emergency Department of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH) later that morning around 6 o’clock eager to see his wife. However, the staff told him that there was no record of her arriving through casualty and sent him to another area of the hospital to inquire. When he got there he again explained to the staff there that his wife was transferred from the health facility from Point Fortin. They made inquires and he was then told his wife was in ICU Level 3.
“I walk back down to the other side in the hot zone they call it where they have COVID patients. When I went there she was not there.”
Greene said he spoke to a nurse who said there was no record of his wife on that ward. Eventually, Greene was told that she was not at SFGH. Greene remained at the SFGH trying to get answers while other family members made repeated calls to the health institutions trying to find Mc Queen.
“Around 3.30 I got a call my spouse, my wife had passed on. I got a call from Point Fortin, not San Fernando. What they telling me now is that the ambulance along the way had turned back because they were getting complications with her breathing,” he said.
But, Greene got no details as to when, where, or how his wife died.
“We talking about someone mother, someone sister, someone wife, and these people like they just don’t care. I leave San Fernando since 6 o’clock and nobody had the courtesy to call, and say your wife in Point Fortin she is not in San Fernando.” Greene continued, “Allyuh giving information and telling people that allyuh sure she is San Fernando when she in Point Fortin in the morgue.”
Mc Queen’s older sister Cherylann Julien was inconsolable. “They didn’t even tell us up to now how my sister dead. They don’t know what we going through. This is a hard blow. My sister was normal. Allyuh so inconsiderate, allyuh did not even call to say she died. We have to be calling to find out. Madness, that is madness,” she sobbed.
Mc Queen’s sister-in-law Josanne Jerome-Mc Queen was also disgusted by the circumstances.
“This system is in a mess. This person is not a dog, this person is a mother, she is a sister, she is a friend. We hurting,” added Jerome-Mc Queen.
The family dismissed COVID-19 as a possible cause of death.
When contacted, the SWRHA confirmed that a full internal investigation has commenced to better understand the matter. The Authority indicated that a meeting was scheduled with Mc Queen’s next of kin, to share details of their preliminary findings.
Julien later confirmed they met with medical officials who apologised to them. The family was also told that a swab was done for a routine COVID-19 test, but by Monday they should know exactly how Mc Queen died.