Mom Gets DEAD BABY In A Bag

The North-West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) is investigating an incident where a young woman who had miscarried found the dead foetus in a black plastic bag in which her bloodied clothes had been placed at Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH).

Tikeya Jordan, 23, of Trou Macaque, Laventille, made the grisly discovery when she returned home after she was discharged from the hospital yesterday.

Judith Ramoutar, chief executive officer of the NWRHA, under whose purview the PoSGH falls, was mandated by NWRHA’s chairman, Dr Edi son Haqq, to conduct a full investigation.

Ramoutar said an initial report was given to Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan, last night, where she revealed that proper protocol was not followed by the doctor or nurse.

“The names have been submitted to the minister and the proper action will be taken accordingly. In the meantime the matter is still being investigated,” Ramoutar said.

Jordan had gone to the PoSGH on Wednesday at about 11.30 am when she began experiencing back pain and bleeding.

Jordan said she alerted the nurses on the ward when she “felt something coming down”, and realised something was very wrong. Upon examining her, the doctor found out that she was five months pregnant. The doctor expelled the foetus by the Dilation and Curettage (D and C) procedure and Jordan was taken to a ward. The bag containing her bloody clothes was brought up with her. When she was discharged the bag was given to her boyfriend.

In a television interview, the young woman said when she got home she asked her mother, who was washing at the time, to “wash these few pieces of clothes.”

While opening the plastic bag to retrieve her clothes, Jordan said she felt something “cold and wet.”

Saying she could not believe what she was feeling, Jordan told her mother to look inside the bag and see what it was. Upon opening the bag the mother discovered the body of the 20-week-old foetus. Jordan was traumatised by the discovery.

Ramoutar has assured that the matter would be investigated thoroughly.

The NWRHA CEO said this incident was highly unusual.

“This is seven years of my being at the NWRHA and I’ve never heard of it nor seen it. No doubt that it has happened before, but this is very, very unusual, that is why it needs some more investigation,” she said.

Ramoutar said Jordan has been receiving counselling and a senior hospital administrator visited the woman at her home yesterday afternoon.

“We went directly to the mother’s home. As a mother as well, I empathise with Ms Jordan, it is really something heart wrenching,” Ramoutar said.

One doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were certain procedures in disposing of premature foetuses.

“If a woman miscarries then the foetus is wrapped in a red bag that is marked bio-hazard material, the same paper that is used to wrap the placenta, and it is taken to the morgue. If the foetus is developed enough the mother may want to take it home to have a burial. If the foetus is about ten to 12 weeks old then you would be looking at a size of a little rubber ball, but at 20 weeks that’s a good sized foetus, so I think it should have been taken to the morgue,” the doctor said.

The doctor noted that bio-medical waste in hospitals was disposed off through something called a sluice.

“Things like blood and blood clots are disposed through the sluice, so the foetus is disposed of down the sluice. A larger foetus would be taken to the morgue,” the doctor said. This is the second mishap involving a regional health authority (RHA) in recent times.

On March 1, baby Simeon was slashed in the head during his mother’s Caesarian-section at Mt Hope Women’s Hospital. He bled to death after living for just five hours. The doctor who performed the surgery has since been suspended pending the outcome of an independent investigation. Mt Hope Women’s Hospital falls under the North Central RHA.

Comment

You need to be a member of CaribbeanFever / FeverEyes / CaribFever to add comments!

Join CaribbeanFever / FeverEyes / CaribFever

Comment by steffie on March 27, 2014 at 4:07am: So heartbreaking.

Comment by Ruff de Gehto Travler on March 26, 2014 at 10:04am: @Carribeanrose I don't doubt that the story has merit that was not my intention , I guess until the investigation is over I do know things happen but there is no way that bag full of clothes would be any where near that operation due to sanitary reasons ,also the still born would not just be placed down they would remove the child away from the mother due to duress !!!! Some thing is missing to end up in that bag some body put it there and I am betting on the boyfriend!!!! They could lose there jobs for that , would you risk that on a still born child !!! I think not!!!

Comment by caribbeanrose on March 25, 2014 at 9:58pm: @Ruff de Ghetto Traveler the story is true! it was reported in the Trinidad Express news paper and the Guardian Newspaper. s*** like this happens in Trinidad hospital all the time. Some hospitals in Trinidad are notorius for killing pregnant, women, new born babies. POS General hospital and Mt. Hope Hospital are nortorius for doing crap like this. Women should gto back to the traditional midwives to have their babies. No traditional midwife in trinidad have ever done nonsense like these Doctors and Nurses Trinidad, many of them enter into the profession for money. Also God fobide if you get hurt during carnival season, well dog eat your bake!!!!

Comment by Mervin E Yearwood on March 25, 2014 at 4:44pm: Excellent point Ruff !

Comment by Ruff de Gehto Travler on March 25, 2014 at 9:38am: Some thing about this story don't make sense !!! Between the bag being given to the boy friend there is not a shred of evidence that the hospital messed up I think that boy put that baby in that bag and brought it home and probably forgot !!! Cause unless either they left the bag near the ward table how in the hell did it make it inside a Black Plastic bag when the Bio hazard bag is red !! what they stop to take a spliff break!!!

Comment by Mervin E Yearwood on March 25, 2014 at 1:07am: This is a heartbreaking. Hope the hospital review and establish a better procedure to prevent another mishap.

Comment by Sashae Brown on March 24, 2014 at 11:02pm: Smh I can't and don't want to imagine such an horrific event.

Comment by caribbeanrose on March 24, 2014 at 10:52am: Total imcompetence of the POS General hospital. In another story at Mount Hope hospital Trinidad A Doctor cut the baby head during a C-section as a result the baby died. I am sick and tired of the healt care delivery system in T&T all they do is killed women, children, babies for simple routine care. The nurse in this incident got suspended, she should have been fired and the Doctor got suspended, he should have been fired!!! But the UNC/PP spind doctors are protecting this Indian doctor because he belong to the ruling political party. It seems certain elements of Trinidad and Tobago have a manifesto to kill African babies. UNC/PP must go!!!!