A Penal couple is calling for justice over the death of their son, claiming the failure of staff at the San Fernando General Hospital to perform a caesarian section (C-section) caused him to be born brain dead.
Sheriffa Ali, 34, and her common-law husband Suresh Rampersad, 37, of Clarke Road, Penal, say the death of their son has left them with unanswered questions.
The news comes in the wake of the recents deaths of two mothers—Keisha Ayers and Charlene Kowlessar—after C-section surgery at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital and SFGH respectively.
Speaking at Ali’s parents’ home at Iere Village, Princes Town, they said their son Sajjid was born on April 15 but was placed in an incubator in critical condition as they were told he was brain dead. He died on Sunday night.
“I had a good pregnancy. Everything was perfect and like any mother I waiting for my baby to come home.
“It is hospital negligence. All the time I keep telling them I cannot push again because the baby not coming and they keep saying you could push,” Ali recalled.
She said two years ago she had a stillborn baby because she suffered from high blood pressure during that pregnancy. She maintained, however, that she had none of those complications during that pregnancy.
Ali said she went into the hospital on April 12 and the following day doctors tried to induce labour. However, it was only on April 15 she was admitted to the labour ward.
She added: “Every six hours they were giving me tablets to induce the labour but nothing was happening. Until Wednesday they clip the water bag and I start to get real pain.
“They had me pushing and nothing happening. I was begging them to do a C-section... to do something cause the baby wasn’t coming out but they keep saying I have to push.”
In tears, Ali recounted the pain she went through before she gave birth.
“They had me all on the ground squatting, going down, coming up, from side-to-side. I telling them the baby not coming. I begging them to do something again. They keep telling me I could push. When they finally cut me down there, then I was able to push him out,” she added.
Around 4.30 pm, Sajjid was born. He weighed seven-and-a half-pounds.
“I was so happy and someone asked me what I had and I said a boy. Then I asked the doctor why the baby not crying. They didn’t answer me. They just say they get a pulse from the baby and they gone with him,” Ali said.
Hours later, when she was attended to again she still was not told of her son’s condition.
“I kept asking everyone and no one would tell me until I met my husband and we went to the nursery. They said we can’t see the baby because the baby is in a critical condition,” she recalled.
The next day Rampersad said he was told by doctors little Sajjid was brain dead.
“The doctor said they did some tests and realised the baby was brain dead. The back and front of his head was badly swollen and the sides were sunken in.
“I ask the doctors how my baby head like that and they say that normal in babies,” he added.
He is now calling for justice for his son.
“I know I cannot get back my son but I want justice for him. My wife went through this drama and this is some form of negligence that took place for she to be going through this. It didn’t suppose to happen so,” he added.
Sajjid lived for 12 days in an incubator and his mother was only able to hold him after he was already dead.
Rampersad said a formal complaint was made at the hospital a few days before Sajjid died. An autopsy is expected to be performed on Sajjid’s body today at the SFGH.