THE anticipation of welcoming their newborn into the world was turned into premature goodbyes for Marclene and Colin Allen, following the sudden death of their full-term baby boy at the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) on Monday afternoon. While Marclene remains a patient at the LHC, they are seeking answers as to why their baby died mere hours after his heartbeat was recorded as normal.

In relating the ordeal to this newspaper, the distraught Colin Allen said that he believed that the hospital was not examining his wife enough to ascertain how her labour was progressing. He alleged that after the first vaginal examination, which determined she was three centimetres dilated, no other examination was done. It was not until she was being prepared for a caesarean section that he was told that the baby was breeched. ‘She was good, she had no complications, none at all, they checked the heart rate and I could have heard it, so I don’t understand what went wrong,” he said.

“I am up there five, six times and nobody is coming to me, I need answers,” he said.
While the LHC has launched an internal investigation into the matter, no definitive cause of death was found. Public Relations Officer (PRO) Toshanna Allicock, said that the hospital will continue investigating the circumstances surrounding the death, but is refuting claims that the mother was not given adequate attention.

She said that Marclene came to the hospital on Sunday afternoon and was observed periodically. She was eight centimetres dilated at her last observation, but initial vaginal and physical examinations did not show that the baby was ‘breeched.’ She said that it showed up on a previous ultrasound that the baby was in a ‘breech’ position, but there was still adequate time for the baby to turn.

She was immediately rushed to the theatre after realising that the baby was ‘breeched’ and it was during surgery that the foetal heart beat rate started to decrease. Doctors also realised that the fluids were filled with meconium. She said that efforts were made to explain the situation to Mr. Allen and while he was not receptive, the hospital will continue to try to do so. Investigations will also continue into the matter.