The woman, who delivered her baby outside the Maternity A ward of the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, shortly after midnight Saturday, says that nurses had refused to attend to her without knowing her COVID-19 status.
She said that with the result of her COVID-19 test, administered that night, still pending, the nurses did not respond to her after she told them that she felt as if she was about to give birth.
The 32-year-old woman, who was having her third child, told iWitness News today (Monday) that the baby was due on May 5.
She, however, said that her two previous children were either born two weeks before or two weeks after their due dates.
The woman said that when she and her boyfriend arrived at the hospital sometime after 11 p.m. on Saturday, the staff told her they would not attend to her until they know her COVID-19 status.
The woman told iWitness News that she and her boyfriend were left sitting on a bench outside the ward while waiting for the COVID-19 test result.
She said that as her labour pains became more intense, she rang the bell to summon the nurses.
The nurse that answered the door told the woman that she had to wait for the COVID-19 test result before being permitted entry into the delivery room.
The woman said that her boyfriend began making noise and the nurse went back to her station, behind the locked door.
The woman told iWitness News that she was on the bench and felt as if she wanted to release herself, and it was then that her water bag broke.
It was not until then that the nurses rushed to assist her.
By then, the woman had positioned herself with her back against the bench and her buttock on the ground and had given birth there.
“I feel upset about it because I never went through that before,” she told iWitness News.
“I am disappointed with the nurses,” she said.
And, even after the woman had given birth in those circumstances, it took a while before the nurse attended to her.
The woman remained seated on the bench for what she said seemed like 15 to 20 minutes after the nurses had rushed into the ward with the newborn baby.
It was not until then that they attended to her.
“I was sitting there with the long [umbilical] cord hanging out of me,” she told iWitness News.
She said that doctors did a CT scan of the baby’s head and said that the child is OK.
As for the mother, she said she is feeling stomach pains that are more intense than after her first two deliveries.
The woman also told iWitness News that she feels “bad” that a video that her boyfriend took of her immediately after the birth has gone viral on social media.
“I feel bad about the video with my private exposed. If it was my face alone,” she said.
She told iWitness News that her boyfriend said that he sent the video to one of her relatives so the relative could see what had happened and that person might have circulated it.
In the video, an angry-sounding male voice, says, in dialect:
“This is where [she] had her baby. [She] came to the clinic so long; she was here waiting, I was calling the nurses. My child born on the ground there, dropped on its f***ing head, you understand?
“Sorry for the bad word, I am going to put this live on social media. The woman has given birth; they took the baby. Look the umbilical cord coming out of my woman there. I don’t want to show her face and look, up to now no one is paying her any attention.”
However, the woman’s face has been visible from the time the video began to when the man said he did not want to show her face.
“None of them is studying her and when I talk, they tell me I must cool down myself. How could I cool down myself in a situation like this? Suppose something happen to my child. Look where it dropped on the concrete there. Concrete me child born on and drop a ground there.”
“Look at where my child born and look where my woman is still, over 15 minutes now and none of them studying she.”
In a terse statement on Sunday, Cuthbert Knights, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment, said that the mother, baby and the baby’s father “have been assessed and are stable and without any immediate signs of any adverse effects due to the mode of delivery.
“Further examinations will continue,” he further said.
He said that the Management of the Hospital Services Programme was conducting investigations “into the events surrounding this unfortunate and unusual incident with an aim to implementing corrective measures where necessary to ensure that there is no repeat of such an incident”.
Meanwhile, the mother told iWitness News that the baby, a girl, weighed in excess of six pounds.
One of her sisters has suggested the name, “Miracle”.
We using Covid status to determine care. Please fire them for lack of critical thinking skill. They will be in another emergency and will make the wrong choice again.
All they had to do is assume ALL patients are positive, use the proper gear and deal with the patient. Put on your gloves, masks , shields and coverslla. SVG have too many persons who can’t think! What do you do if an HIV person shows up for care? You leave them on the bench until the ELISA test confirms the status? No, you operates like everyone is positive until the test proves otherwise. Too many Vincentians have book sense and degrees and not enough common sense.
What you telling me is that after a year of Covid, if a Covid positive pregnant woman was to show up at the hospital, she cannot get immediate care..all Jack are left scrambling?
This is totally unacceptable You are awaiting results of a covid test? The lady’s blood will give you covid?
This is crazy those nurses need to be fired they should be ashamed of themselves , their is so much I want to say but I will leave it right their.
I’m happy that nothing is wrong with the baby and her mother
Apologies my sister on behalf of the guilty ones. We are Vincentians & MUST speak when issues such as these arise. I feel your pain and shame. Stay strong, be safe & be the best mother to your baby. Feel free to reach out to Marion House for ANY assistance. Blessings & love
Any good shysters around make them Pay.
These nurses should be suspended immediately.
This should never happened to any human being. Happy, the video was taken to expose the negligence and callousness of the nurses. Waiting on a COVID test result is no excuse, The patient should have been treated as if she was COVID positive and all precautionary measures taken until results prove otherwise.
Really hope everyone would be disciplined, suspended, fired. We have to set an example and someone has to take the fall. The world is watching and awaiting the results of disciplinary action. This is Global. We cannot sweep it under the rug.
Ms. Woman, first let me sympathise with you for what you went through at the hands of these “professional” (sarcasm intended) people.
Get yourself a good lawyer (who’s probably willing to do your case pro bono) and sue the nurses who were on duty in their personal capacity and also sue the Hospital. Unless someone stands up to them, this is going to continue to happen to other less fortunate Vincentians
Terrible! All the nurses had to do was cover themselves. So how do they dress when they have to treat someone with COVID? […]
She cannot blame anybody but her boyfriend for the video going viral. Stupid people
Reason to stop sending videos on social media. One person may send it in good faith, but others are not considerate.
Damn wicket they are not Nurses cause they don’t Care or have empathy. How can u leave the woman in pain talking bout covid test wear ur PPE foolishness I will sue you all ass if that was my sister…..
Disturbing in everway possible…
This is so sad I sure the hospital had protective gear for the nurse but these people are evil she should be fired immediately
Not even dog and cats get treated in this manner
What a tragedy! Although things like this occur all over the world, it just happens far too often in SVG. A friend told me that he witnessed a woman give birth outside near the front entrance to the hospital. We all heard of a person that died in the parking lot right after being discharged from the hospital. This must really pain Mr Knights, who I know is personally dedicated to the highest of standards from those in the Department of Health.
How are we going to improve our standards in SVG when we are, thus far, refusing to change our attitudes? This has to start at the top. A famous investment manager, Simon Black,wrote in his newsletter that THE SVG GOVERNMENT SEEMS TO HAVE CORONA DERANGEMENT SYNDROM!
SORRY TO SAY, THIS IS UNDENIABLE!
It seems this may be driven by the mad effort of leadership to help a Global Agenda (along with, possibly the promise of access to loans) have the population injected with the experimental cocktail(s), (excluding the Sputnik-V) to observe the long-term effects stemming from a seemingly man-made virus probably designed to reduce the Global Population on behalf of a greedy Billionaire.
I hope the family sue the hospital and government for negligence
The simple solution was this:
Assume ALL patients are positive, use the proper gear and deal with the patient.
Put on your gloves, masks, shield and suit up.
As for the video—that was totally on the boyfriend’s doorstep. He should have recorded for documentation not communication. should not have forwarded that vid to anyone. It was quite personal. Indeed a very unfortunate exposition.
The SVG health department has a bad record when providing services to poor people, hundreds if not thousands of bad reports have been made against the incompetence services of the general hospital yet to this date,nothing has been done! I out the blame on the government,,they need to be held accountable for the kind of people they out to run our health department,,this is too much,,things are getting worst,,it’s frightening,,am very angry with this system towards poor people.
Papa God, please help the people of svg. Hope there is a through investigation, all on that shift should write a report, also the wife and husband. Mean while these responsible should be suspended until investigation is completed, and those who are find to be responsible should be sacked. Only in this small banana Republic island these things happen and no one is held accountable and discipline. I heard so many things about that place, also had experiences while visiting., I must say that there are still some professional and caring nurses,, pray tha the good ones out numbered the bad ones.
The family was treated shamefully. But the important point for now, is that the mum and baby are doing well and the father of the baby must be feeling relief.
I think the main issue is one of very poor management. Some senior nurse or doctor must be in charge to be consulted on a what, appears to be a difficult decision for the nurses around. So where was that senior person?
Could any of the nurses be senior and behaved in this manner? If that is the case the person (s) need additional training on how to care for patients.
I agree with the sentiments expressed by Win, that we must all assume that everyone is coving positive and act accordingly .
Unfortunately because of the way in which the world is organised presently most of our actions are based on fear of the unknown, therefore our ability to use our commonsense sometimes become so overwhelmed that our brains become scrambled and we cannot think rationally and we make stupid decisions.
I am pleased to hear that mother and baby are both fine.
Unprofessional behaviour, they have a duty of care.
They need to be relieved of their jobs immediately.
I have had the misfortune of being a patient at this hospital and let me tell you it was not pretty.
Unsympathetic, uncaring with no empathy was my experience. This is a shambles and this lady needs to start legal proceedings and stick with it until the end.
This is the problem, they get away with things because nobody brings them to book.
Better still ears the whole building to the ground, rebuild and get the staff in from oversea if the ones there choose to behave like this, the hospital at the moment is not fit for purpose.
May I add they cannot even produce my records that I need for something claiming they are lost. Yeah right.
If Mr. Cuthbert Knights, who oversees the health department is so “pained” by these people’s treatment of this young lady as someone commented, why hasn’t he fired all nursing staff responsible for such uncaring and unprofessionalism toward this lady. It goes again human decency, caring and compassion care that they should be practicing. I’ve never heard such nonsense as having someone in labor wait out the result of a COVID test before given the care she deserves. Shameful indeed – your treatment of this lady! There’s no excuse for such demeaning and disrespectful treatment to this lady. What and whose policy is that? Is that an impromptu case by case policy? What is your standard of care?
I demand that all responsible be FIRED IMMEDIATELY!
Mr. Knights, you don’t need an investigation – the facts speak for themselves. You have the words of the victim and the baby’s father as well. Do the right thing that your conscience should dictate you do. Make a change and start with firing those responsible for such uncaring and outrageous treatment of this lady. They are not worthy of the profession they’re in.
I also read of other atrocities that have recently taken place at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital – reprehensible indeed!
I appeal directly to you, Mr. Knights! REFORM IS NEEDED NOW!!!!!!
Do not make kids. Adopt them to rich people make sure they take good care of them though. Luke 14 Forsake all, everybody, yourlife to become a Christian
Luke 12 and Matthew 6, Sell out, give all to poor people, and keep all alms in secret
Matthew 5-7, Work for J, not €, then J will give you and your family as well in case they follow too the food and clothing needed
Help the poor, sick, needy, and imprisoned to make J happy Matthew 25
Mark 16 Share Love & Truth to all, to everyone everywhere
John 17 Work with others in love + peace
Don’t take the Mark of the Beast right hand or forehead, the only way to buy or sell (It’s not the covid mask or vaccine, but could be quantum implantable or quantum-tattoo) the Revelation 13+14
USA is most likely the Babylon, to be destroyed with fire in 1 hour, the Revelation 17+18 He loves all, and we need to love Him back