The North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) has been hit with another pre-action protocol letter over the death of a baby who was admitted to the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
The letter, signed by Sumayyah Mohammed of Freedom Law Chambers, led by Anand Ramlogan, SC, alleges that the NICU staff were negligent, resulting in the death of baby Ethan Jaikaran.
In the letter, attorneys claimed that baby Ethan died on February 1 at the Mount Hope NICU. The cause of death, based on the NCRHA’s findings, was bilateral pulmonary atelectasis and haemorrhage, low birth weight, and an infant with necrotising enterocolitis pending histology.
The child’s parents, Kerri-Ann Roach and Timon Jaikaran, dissatisfied with the findings after they were reportedly told on multiple occasions that their son was doing well, paid for a private autopsy.
The second autopsy, done by Professor Hubert Daisley, found that Ethan was premature and had contracted an infection.
The autopsy read: “The lung was not fully matured and as a result there were areas of atelectasis (areas of the lung that were not expanded). There was diffuse alveolar damage which would have occurred with usage of the ventilator. There was also pulmonary infection probably due to viral infection. There was also diffuse alveolar haemorrhage. These pulmonary haemorrhages along with brain haemorrhages and petechiae of the limbs would have resulted because of thrombocytopenia, viz low platelet count. Infection would have contributed to the cholestasis. All these factors contributed to the demise of the infant.”
The legal letter said the parents’ grief was exacerbated by the fact that they suffered a miscarriage two years ago. It further alleged a cover-up, as the baby had suffered from an IV burn on his wrist, which a nurse reluctantly informed the family of on or around January 15. The supposed cover-up stemmed from medical staff hiding the burn, allegedly with a disposable diaper, during the child’s 38-day stay at the hospital.
Last Friday, the NCRHA was issued its first pre-action letter over another baby death, after a Tunapuna family claimed their baby son, Kaylon Philip, died days after he was discharged. The newborn, half of a twin, was born on March 7 and died on April 12, eight days after he was discharged.
That pre-action letter to NCRHA came after the deaths of seven babies at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital’s NICU between April 4 and 9. This resulted in an avalanche of lawsuits which included deaths outside of the seven, which the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) deemed as a cluster.
To date, all the pre-action letters were issued by Freedom Chambers. Statistics from the attorneys showed 24 deaths across three regional health authorities.