…mother wants a thorough investigation

A SPRIGHTLY, bouncing four-year-old boy who was sedated and taken to theatre at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) to have a cut on his tongue sutured, never regained consciousness and died on life support six days after the surgery.

Dead is Jayden Mars of 45 West Ruimveldt. His terribly distraught mother, Natalie Casey, told this newspaper that last Wednesday, the child accidentally tripped and fell on a 5-gallon plastic bucket, resulting in his teeth cutting his tongue.
She recalled the cut was bleeding considerably and so she took him to a nearby health centre where the medical staff on duty washed it and applied first aid procedure. But he was referred to the GPHC and triaged at the Accident and Emergency Unit before being seen by a doctor. He arrived at the hospital around 13:35 hrs and was attended to by doctors at around 16:00 hrs.

The doctors advised that it was not an emergency and might have required about three stitches or so, hence they attempted to sedate him to carry out the procedure. However, Jayden appeared not to be responding to the drug, his mother said, with the result that the medical staff doubled the amount of the drug, but he still did not go to sleep. As a result, the doctors took a decision to take the child up to theatre. By then, it was well past 18:00hrs and he was sutured around 19:10 hrs; the procedure was completed within 16 minutes.
Meanwhile, as she sat in the recovery room, the mother recalled being very uneasy and a strange feeling engulfed her. “My heart began hurting…” she recalled. “Minutes later a team of doctors and nurses came out of the theatre and began asking me questions, like – ‘how many children you have’? she recalled. Then they broke the news that an emergency had taken place. The child’s heart had stopped beating and they had employed all the means at their disposal and resuscitated him; but he eventually went into a coma and remained non-reactive. That situation continued for almost one week, with Jayden’s condition becoming progressively worse.
The infant was eventually placed on life support and remained that way until early Tuesday morning when he breathed his last.
His mother though consumed with grief, was vocal and very adamant that she does not want her child’s life to go in vain; it should be investigated thoroughly, and there should be answers as to why her child went into an irreversible coma. “I don’t want this to be another case where it is ‘blown up’ for a while, then swept under the carpet.” She questioned competency of the staff, asking, “Does it have to take the death of a person before action can be taken to have a medical officer trained in the techniques which form part of his duties?”
She has asked many questions which seemed to have been answered mechanically, but, not to her satisfaction, she says. Finally she was told they would have to await the results of a post mortem.
Weeping, as she spoke at her home yesterday, Ms. Casey lamented the fact that she did not heed her son’s advice. “At one time he told me, “Mommy let’s go home, the tongue will get better.” But out of motherly concern and abundant caution, she insisted that the hospital be allowed to do what they thought best.
Jayden was the elder of two children to his parents Natalie Casey and Junior Mars. He is also survived by his younger sister, a two year old.