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Dec 14, 2013 News
A candlelight vigil intended to lament the recent passing of four-year-old Jaden Mars at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) was held on the New Market Street pavement outside of the hospital last evening.
The vigil attracted a number of persons, some of whom travelled from as far as the East Coast of Demerara to demonstrate solidarity with the grieving mother of the child, Natalie Caseley.
It was revealed that the move was also intended to echo a call for justice for the child in light of the belief by some that there was negligence on the part of medical personnel who attended to him.
According to Audrey Hammond of Sophia she read about the incident in the newspaper and was moved by the unfortunate situation. As a result the woman said that she decided to come out and join the vigil to show support to the parents of the now dead child.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Julia Smith of Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, who noted that in addition to expressing condolence and support to Caseley, “we also want to let the hospital know that this is not just a walk over.”
Also speaking last evening was another East Coast Demerara resident, Jenelle Christian, who underscored that Natalie has had to endure a loss that “no mother should and we are standing here with her to show she is not alone.”
Caseley, in expressing appreciation for the support, noted that the vigil is one that is not only aimed at highlighting the unjust act committed against her son but to amplify a state of affairs that has occurred before at the medical institution. “Georgetown hospital is a public health facility and people need to know that they can walk in here and walk out healthy…we need to also be assured by this facility that if you walk in here and you are not healthy they will try their best to make you healthy.”
“Since when biting your tongue kills you?” questioned the distraught mother as she alluded to the dilemma which saw her son being taken to the hospital last week Wednesday. “…if there is no room for incidence and accidents then they should just close down the facility and if something happens we try to take care of it at home and if it is not taken care of then we know we will die because if we come here we will die anyway.”
While she could not speak to the continuance of the vigil, Caseley did note that her efforts will be long-term in order to get justice “not just for Jaden but for everybody else in the past that this and similar things had happened to and nobody stood up for themselves…”
Mars, who attended the Ascension Nursery School, was pronounced dead early Tuesday morning, a few days after being admitted a patient at the hospital to have his damaged tongue sutured. Reports are that the child accidentally fell at home and hit his chin on a five gallon bucket causing his teeth to impact his tongue. He was administered at least two 25 milligram doses of Ketamine at the medical institution to sedate him in order to have his tongue repaired.
Mars was however sent to the theatre to have the procedure done but never regained consciousness, leaving his family members in distress and desirous of answers as to what could have led to his demise.
A post mortem examination conducted on Wednesday revealed that the cause of Mars’ death was Pulmonary Embolism.
According to GPHC’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Khan, an investigation into the death of the child is in its final stage. He expects to be presented with the report on Monday.
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