Eleven months after the death of her baby at Mount Hope Hospital, Quelly Ann Cottle is seeking psychiatric treatment to deal with her emotional pain and depression. On Friday, Cottle, 38, admitted that after losing baby Simeon, who received a seven-centimetre cut to the head while she underwent a C-section last March, she had not been able to cope with mounting pressures and was now seeking “psychiatric treatment” to help find the root cause of her problems.
Cottle has attended three-one hour sessions with psychiatrist Dr Iqbal Ghany in the last month, after her family life started to fall apart. She disclosed that her relationship with her common-law husband Emil Millington was now strained, her 19-year-old son Kyle seldom visited her Cumuto home, and the last child, four-year-old Samuel, kept asking for the baby. She too has not been able to function or think straight.
“I have been an emotional wreck. Everyday I crying,” Cottle said. Cottle was advised by family members and her lawyer Dr Farid Scoon to seek psychiatric help. “I am trying to pull myself together,” Cottle said, her voice choked with emotion. Cottle said for months, she kept things that bothered her bottled up inside and realised that it was doing more harm than good.
Having attended three sessions of counselling, Cottle said, she was now opening up about things she had kept silent on. “The doctor said he is seeing some good signs,” Cottle said.
Cottle, husband at each other’s throat
Last June, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan forwarded an independent report into the baby’s death to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the acting Commissioner of Police for an investigation. For several months, Cottle said, she and Millington had been “at each other’s throat.” “As far as things going it not looking too promising...We trying to patch things up right now.” Cottle said she was now being blamed by a relative for Simeon’s death, which she has not been able to live with.
Baby Simeon was not a planned pregnancy. After losing an almost full-term baby girl before Simeon, Cottle said, she had not wanted another child and used protection. “I was taking the injection, but it only worked for six months. After that, I don’t know what happened. I got pregnant.” Even though 11 months have passed, Cottle said, “the topic of baby Simeon is always a ticklish one. It has been emotional for both of us.”
Cottle said she never thought her family would have drifted apart. “I never expected a lot of things, but in life you don’t know what will happen. “As far as I am concerned, I was looking forward to a bouncing baby and that everything would have been okay. But it did not turn out the way I wanted. God knows best. He is in control.”
Millington: I can’t function at home and on the job
Yesterday, Millington admitted that he too was affected by the loss of Simeon, and felt he needed help as well. “This thing affecting my family in general.” Asked if his relationship with Cottle was now strained, Millington replied, “terribly, terribly... bad. The way things going this is having an effect on me.” A handyman at the University of T&T, Cottle said his productivity on the job and attendance had decreased.
“When a man cannot function properly at home, he would not function properly on the job.” He confessed that he and Cottle had been drifting apart. “I don’t really push it because I think I understand what really going on. There are things that I just leave alone.” Millington said he could only hope that his family came together again soon. “With God’s help this too will soon pass.”
Psychiatric report to be sent to NCRHA
On Friday, Scoon admitted that Cottle had to seek psychiatric treatment as a result of the baby’s death. Scoon said Cottle was also seen by a psychologist, who had recommended that she obtain continued treatment in the form of counselling. “There is a lot of dislocation.” Scoon said Cottle’s problems stemmed from psychological issues, mainly the breakdown in the family unit. “It’s a difficult situation for the family.”
He said he expected that “any day now” a report from Dr Ghany would be forwarded to the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA), which had agreed to settle with Cottle out of court. This month, Scoon said, he was hopeful the NCRHA would compensate Cottle for the loss of her baby.
Lawyer calls for investigation to be pursued
Scoon, who is representing Quelly Ann Cottle, yesterday called on acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams to pursue the investigation into baby Simeon’s death. “I think eight months is more than enough time for an investigation to be done,” said Scoon. Scoon said since a report by the AG was forwarded to the DPP and Williams for a probe, no one from the T&T Police Service had contacted Cottle to take a statement or to question her.
The report was sent to the DPP and CoP last June. “As far as I know no investigator has contacted Ms Cottle. I really trust that the State would take care of those matters. It is potentially a police matter. I guess in a very limited way we can raise it. We would like the investigation to be pursued.” Yesterday, Williams could not share any information on the investigation since he was not in office.
“I would not be able to share that information at this point in time. You are calling me Saturday morning, I am not in a position to off my head tell you investigations like that. I would have to effectively check and I would not be able to access that information now,” Williams said.