THERE has been much confusion at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) following the death of six-year-old Sharezer Mendonca, after her body was given to wrong family, resulting in an unauthorised autopsy.

Mendonca was diagnosed with Leukemia – a cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system. The young girl passed away on Thursday morning at the GPHC, after being in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for some time.

“The family was making a decision to hire a private pathologist to observe the post-mortem,” aunt of the young girl, Azeena Bakraj, told the Guyana Chronicle.

This decision was made after young Mendonca became the third of three children who died after receiving treatment for Leukemia at the hospital. Seven-year-old Corwin Edwards succumbed on January 14 and Roshini Seegobin, three, died on January 18. The trio succumbed after an alleged adverse reaction to medication which was administered to them as part of the treatment for Leukemia.

Mendonca’s family, through their attorneys, wrote the hospital requesting that the scheduled autopsy be postponed until Monday, January 28. This was to facilitate the arrival of the private pathologist that the family sourced from Trinidad and Tobago.

One of the family’s attorneys, Ganesh Hira, told another newspaper that they were given assurance that the request would be granted.

On Friday however, the family was dealt a series of blows as they were unable to locate the body of Sharezer in the hospital’s mortuary, after making the decision to transfer her to a private mortuary.

Bakraj related that when the family entered the mortuary, the attendant informed them that there was only one young girl in there, but when they saw the girl, it was not Mendonca. The young girl’s body was not found anywhere in the mortuary.

“It was frustration [and] chaos… we wanted to scream our lungs out,” Bakraj said. “I was so traumatised; I almost blacked out when they pulled open each body [in the mortuary] and none of them were the body of Sharezer.”

Eventually, the family discovered that Mendonca’s body was on its way to Parika, where it was being transported by a family from Bartica, in place of another deceased young girl.

The aunt related that when the body was returned to the family, she was readily identified as young Mendonca. But to make matters worse, there were visible incisions made on her body which indicated that an autopsy had been performed on her.

The aunt said that the Bartica family expressed great surprise when they heard about the mix-up also.

Following the death of the first two children, the GPHC confirmed that an investigation has been launched into the deaths.

During this investigation, all medical persons who were directly involved will be interviewed and the medication which was administered will be assessed. “Further, usage of that medication has been discontinued while the investigation continues… we advise members of the public to resist the urge to speculate on what is a sensitive matter and to await the findings of the investigation,” the GPHC said.

Bakraj noted, however, that the family is currently seeking legal advice and stressed that there seems to be a lack of professionalism and due diligence at the GPHC. The family’s legal team has also requested that the hospital make the young girl’s medical records available.

“It is just totally unacceptable… I can’t find words to express how traumatised it was to know that Sharezer’s body was not in the mortuary,” Azeena said grimly.

The young girl’s body is now in the care of a private mortuary and is awaiting a second autopsy that the GPHC has agreed to, according to the aunt. This will be done in the presence of the family’s pathologist.

“It is so heart wrenching for a family to go through this. I am still trying to come to grips with what happened [on Friday],” an emotional Bakraj said. “At this point, we need the GPHC to just be transparent. We need answers to our questions.”