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Sep 22, 2015 News
“How much more pain do I need to feel? How many more years do I need to cry? How much longer must I stand on the picket line and protest?” These were the searching questions asked by Nathalie Caseley who is convinced that enough is still not being done to ensure that justice for her son is realized.
Caseley was the mother of four-year-old Jaden Mars who passed away at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) in December 2013. The child was taken to the hospital with a cut tongue which he suffered after falling at home.
He was admitted to the hospital on December 4, 2013 and was dead by December 10, 2015.
A post mortem (PM) examination revealed that the child died from Pulmonary Embolism, which is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream.
The post mortem, which was witnessed by then Shadow Minister of Health within the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Party, Dr. George Norton, revealed that there was no prior damage to any of the child’s internal organs.
Caseley was advised that the death of her son was in fact due to negligence , a state of affairs that was admitted to by the then Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, and other senior health officials.
A still troubled Caseley told this publication yesterday that it was based on the fact that her son was in good physical health, aside for his damaged tongue. The fact that there was substantial evidence to suggest negligence on the part of the attending health workers caused Dr. Norton to advise her to take legal action against the GPHC.
Dr. Norton’s advice was heeded and Caseley had sought the legal support of Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes. Hughes offered his service on a pro bono basis.
Even as preparations were being made for the case, Caseley had also spearheaded a number of picketing exercises outside the hospital and the Ministry of Health as part of her call for justice for her son. Some of these activities saw the attendance of Dr. Norton who had even then assured Caseley that should his party be elected to power her son’s case would be swiftly dealt with.
The coalesced APNU+AFC was elected to power on May 11, 2015.
“When he was a part of the opposition he promised me in the media to pick up the Jaden Mars case as soon as they got into power and now it seems just like the previous administration the now Minister of Health is relaxing…” said a heartbroken Caseley yesterday.
Even as she deemed as slothful the pace of an investigation launched into her son’s case, Caseley stressed that “even though we are in court the Nursing and Medical Councils are still obligated to do their job and also provide myself and, or lawyer with an update.”
Turning her attention to the pursued legal action, which was initiated with the intent of suing the GPHC and the Ministry of Health for malpractice, Caseley divulged that an attempt was made by the lawyer representing the Health Ministry, Jaya Manickchand, to offer a monetary settlement out of court.
Without giving specific details, Caseley intimated that the settlement was being offered with conditions that neither she nor her lawyer was prepared to accept. “My lawyer replied via a letter expressing that the conditions were terribly unfair…that was done almost three months ago if my memory serves me right. We are yet to receive a response from Miss Manickchand…” said Caseley.
This publication was reliably informed that among the conditions of the settlement was a clause that required Caseley to keep her son’s case out of the media.
According to the still grieving mother, yesterday, she was “flabbergasted when I realised that the new administration still had Ms. Maya Manickhand as their legal representative in the Jaden Mars case.”
Nevertheless, Caseley said that she will not be discouraged and will therefore retain her firm stance for justice. “I said it publicly that I will not stop until justice is serve and I mean it. I realised that when I was in the media fighting for justice it was catching on and other victims like me were on the picket line too. Since I’m out of the media so are the others…well I want to encourage the family of all the others and the most recent and not so recent victims of GPHC to once again come forward,” appealed Caseley.
According to her, she is keen on helping in some small way, at least, to put an end to the poor quality of health care being provided at the GPHC, an institution that is being run by taxpayers’ money.
Caseley’s concerns were raised when she considered that had her son lived he would have celebrated his sixth birthday on October 15, 2015. “He will not be here to celebrate with us because of their negligence…December will be two years since Jaden died and still no disciplinary action against the persons culpable. How much more time do the need?” Caseley queried yesterday.
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