Woman with heart ailment left untreated at GPHC as Doctors waited on COVID-19 test result

The family and friends of 45-year-old Kesia Jardine who died on Friday morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital are calling for a full investigation after she was left over ten days without any treatment for her heart condition.

“They said they can’t operate until she cleared the quarantine (isolation) because she tested positive for COVID-19 which I think is crazy,” Jardine’s sister Annalise Henry told the News Room during a telephone interview.

The family said negligence by health professionals led to the death of the mother of two.

Henry explained that her sister, who resided at North Ruimveldt, Georgetown, was taken to the hospital on August 17 after she complained of feeling unwell.

“She got up and started panicking –like a panic attack –she said her heart was beating [fast] and she can’t breathe and so forth and she passed out.

“They took her to the hospital and they said she had a blockage at her heart,” Henry explained.

She said the family paid $45,000 for a scan which revealed blood clots in the artery leading to Jardine’s heart.

As a result, she was given medication.

However, the family was told that a COVID-19 test was required in keeping with the hospital’s protocol and they obliged.

The test result showed positive the following day and Kesia was sent to the Diamond Hospital where she was placed in isolation for 10 days.

“They sent her straight to quarantine, they took her off of the medication for the heart and she was feeling fine and everything…” Henry said.

The News Room understands that Doctors at the GPHC transferred Jardine to the Diamond Hospital due to the lack of space at the Georgetown institution.

But on Wednesday, when checks were done, it was found that “her heart rate [kept increasing] and they decided to take her back to the [Georgetown] hospital,” Henry related.

But on arrival to the hospital, the ambulance proceeded to six different entrances before clearance was granted to enter with the patient as a space had to be prepared in the ICU.

On Wednesday, Jardine also took a second COVID-19 swab so doctors can be assured that she recovered.

Her condition worsened on Thursday when she attempted to visit the washroom but felt weak.

According to Henry, her sister told her “nobody not attending to you, nobody ain’t time with you and her heart just hurting.”

“She said she feel this heart will just fall out her chest,” Henry added.

A doctor later told the family that a follow-up will be done to determine why no one was there to attend to the patient.

In the early hours of Friday morning, Jardine’s condition further worsened and doctors told the family her heart rate was too low and therefore, they could not do anything.

The 45-year-old mother of two died at about 2am on Friday.

Henry said there needs to be a full investigation into the incident as it is unfair that “she came in for one problem and they did not address the problem…and now she has died.”

In addition, until now, “they didn’t tell the family to quarantine.”

Jardine resided with her husband Donald Jardine and two children, ages eight and 20 years old; the eldest is also pregnant.

When contacted, Mr. Jardine struggled to contain himself as he repeated: “she go in there with a heart problem…she didn’t die from COVID-19.”

He said he wants his wife’s body but even after her death, her second COVID-19 result was not received.

Mr. Jardine said he also did a COVID-19 test earlier this month and is still awaiting his result.

The death certificate says Mrs. Jardine died from Cardiogenic shock due to Acute Myocardial Infarction.