The post mortems conducted on the bodies of 24-year-old Devi Samaroo and her newborn baby girl found that the baby died as a result of a hole in the heart while the mother died from a blood clot in the lungs.
The post mortems were done at the New Amsterdam hospital where the mother and her baby died.
Samaroo’s post mortem showed that she died from shock due to pulmonary thrombembolism, with doctors telling relatives she had a blood clot in the lungs. The baby’s cause of death was given as congenital malformation, with the pathologist Dr Lopez adding the cause as interventricular communication, which suggests a hole in the heart.
Samaroo’s husband Sunil Pertab told the News Room that the family was not allowed to witness the autopsies. He said the family would have preferred that independent autopsies be done but they could not afford those.
A relative stated that they were confused when they got to the hospital and was denied to witness the autopsies.
“They (doctors) kept telling the security to lock us out the room. It had about four doctors but none of us, not even one was allowed in,” the relative claimed.
Relatives are calling on the government to launch an independent investigation to ascertain what exactly led to the death of Samaroo and her baby.
Samaroon, from Bloomfield Village, East Berbice Corentyne, was due to deliver her baby in two weeks but was admitted at the New Amsterdam Hospital on October 29.
She was taken to the hospital by her husband after experiencing signs and symptoms of labour; she delivered the baby on the October 30, and according to her husband, when he spoke with her, she said the baby was fine and that the baby cried when she was born.
After visiting the hospital, relatives discovered that the baby had died. The next day – October 31 – when relatives returned to the hospital, they learned that Samaroo had also died.
Questions by the woman’s husband were left unanswered.
“…they are saying they don’t know and when we ask who was the doctor they are saying they don’t know.
“So we ask if they watched her die in the 24 hours because if they had called us we would have at least try to take her out and drive go down to town,” the husband stated.
Pertab had told the News Room that after he begged to see his wife’s body, he found her lying on a bloodied sheet. He said he further questioned about why there was so much blood and he was told “they don’t know nothing about the bleeding.”
Samaroo’s mother Mahendrawattie Shewnauth also explained that she was prevented from speaking or seeing her daughter while she was in the hospital. The family further alleged that doctors and nurses refused to update them on Samaroo’s condition and that of her baby.
Shewnauth said she waited for hours at the hospital and when finally got the chance to see her daughter, she was told that the baby had died and no other explanations were provided.
The Regional Chairman David Armogan in a statement sent out on Sunday said that Samaroo was admitted on the October 29 “and delivered a preterm infant” in the morning on October 30. He further said that Samaroo subsequently died on the morning of October 31 and that an investigation had commenced.
Several months ago, another woman named Vanessa Lewis and her baby died at the same institution.
Their deaths were followed by protest action by relatives for justice to be served.
An investigation was done but the findings of the investigation were never made public.
