According to a report in Friday's edition of Trinidad & Tobago’s Guardian newspaper, a woman who had a miscarriage at Port of Spain General Hospital (PsSGH) was shocked to discover the 20 week old foetus in a black plastic bag among her possessions, upon her return home.
The woman, 23-year-old Tahia Jordan told members of the local media at her Trou Macaque, Laventille, home on Thursday that she was taken to the hospital when she felt ill, unaware even then that she was pregnant. She received attention and was later allowed to see the foetus and was told that it was a boy.
Traumatic find
However, Jordan, a mother of one living child, having had a previous miscarriage as well, was reportedly not informed about how the foetus would be handled by the hospital. She said it was only upon her return home on Thursday that she made the traumatic find, discovering her dead foetus wrapped up in an incopad (a piece of cotton and plastic material used at hospitals).
“I get a little scent and saw the bloody cloth (incopad) and get frightened and I begin to cry when I see it,” the Guardian quoted her as saying.
Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan confirmed that he had heard about the incident and ordered an immediate investigation. He said the protocol in cases of miscarriages was that the patient is given counseling and is monitored for about 24 hours. He added that whether the parents wanted to bury the child or allow the hospital to do so was up to them.
Judith Baliram, Chief Executive Officer of the North West Regional Health Authority, admitting that there clearly had been a breach of protocol, expressed sorrow at the mother’s experience and promised that a report will be delivered to Khan speedily. She said Jordan was visited by the hospital staff and the foetus was taken away, adding that if the parents wanted to bury the foetus the hospital would assist.
Negative publicity
This latest incident has added to the negative publicity that the South West Regional Health Authority has been attracting recently. It came one day after Quelly Ann Cottle buried her baby Simeon, who died after being sliced on the head during a C-section on March 1 at the Mt Hope Women’s Hospital.
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