Family hurting as pregnant woman refused health care dies after giving birth
JODIAN Fearon had hoped to celebrate her 24th birthday tomorrow, having just experienced a mother's joy of giving birth, but she never knew she would've lost her own life.
The first-time mom died late Friday after a journey that saw her travelling across the Corporate Area and being denied access to health care.
Just days before her due date, the young mother started to experience distress and reported to the privately owned and operated Andrews Memorial Hospital, where she had been registered to deliver her baby.
Fearon, according to her sister and housemate Shanice Lloyd, arrived at the hospital last Thursday and was being prepared for delivery.
A few days prior, she had begun experiencing difficulty breathing as the baby was reportedly “putting pressure on her diaphragm”.
“We were there from five o'clock and about 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm she said she was ready to sleep. So she told the nurses that she was ready to sleep and we told her we were leaving. [Her doctor] said either late that night or early Friday he would take the baby through a vaginal extraction but he would induce labour. He said he couldn't get to understand what was going on with her breathing unless the baby is out,” a distraught Lloyd told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
Lloyd said while getting ready for bed Fearon again complained about her breathing and conveying to the nurse that she was unable to breathe properly if lying on her back, and so she would have to sit up and sleep.
“She [nurse] start gwaan (going on) with a bag (lot) of excitement seh (to say) she have COVID-19.
(She (the nurse) start going on with a lot of excitement saying she (Jodian Fearon) have Covid-19)
This other lady [in the room] got so scared she moved out with her child same time — her newborn baby. They asked us to step outside and they put Jodi in isolation. They start move people off the ward not knowing if she have COVID-19 or what. They started spreading rumours seh (saying) she have COVID-19,” said Lloyd, who described the ordeal as terribly embarrassing.
The woman said her sister's doctor became livid with hospital staff and fought suggestions that she be removed from the institution to which she had reportedly paid over $50,000 in March for her delivery. By that time, her family had already been told to pack her things and remove them from the hospital, which is operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Lloyd said Fearon's doctor placed a frantic call to University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), about 10 minutes away, but was told that they were unable to take the patient.
The reason was not clear, she said.
The doctor then called Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) to see if it could accommodate Fearon at its maternity arm — Victoria Jubilee Hospital — but was reportedly told that no bed was available.
Victoria Jubilee is the largest referral maternity hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean.
The hospital CEO said she could stay the night, so we left at three o'clock [in the morning], and she was texting us. She was telling us that she hear the nurse dem a whisper and she said she feel really sad about all that was happening to her,” Lloyd told the Observer.
She said the family received a text message from Fearon at 5:00 am, indicating that her water had broke and that her doctor was there because he did not want the hospital to “kick her out” at any time.
Fearon also told her family that she would have to undergo a Caesarean section [C-section] for $230,000, which Lloyd said was paid by 9:00 am.
“So they said they were preparing the theatre and we gave her two hours and said she must have baby by now and good. So, on our way there, the doctor called to say they're in an ambulance heading to Spanish Town [Hospital]. We said, 'What the hell? How is she heading to Spanish Town?' He said Andrews doesn't want her to have the baby there. The anaesthesia people not giving her it. The nurse them not helping, saying them don't want nuh (no) COVID-19 people there.
“So we end up going to Spanish Town and hear she was in the ambulance from about after 10:00 am waiting on the room to be ready because the doctor had to just pop up on Spanish Town, because if he had called they probably wouldn't take her,” a grief-stricken Lloyd explained.
She said when they arrived, Fearon — who was still in the ambulance on oxygen — had been reeling in pain. That lasted for a further 30 minutes as family members looked on helplessly.
It was not long before the group broke down in tears, Lloyd said.
'It's inhumane'
(I translated a few words into standard English in the above so that people can understand what a part of the article is saying).
...Fearon died at the University Hospital of the West Indies on Saturday, six hours after delivering her baby at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine.
She had been at the privately operated Andrews Memorial Hospital on Friday for the delivery, but had to leave after exhibiting perceived coronavirus-like symptoms.
According to her doctor, both the UHWI and the Victoria Jubilee Hospital refused to admit the patient, who at the time was in labour.
Eventually, the Spanish Town Hospital agreed to take her, but when she arrived there in an ambulance, the facility was not ready to accommodate the woman.
After a C-section delivery, Fearon’s health deteriorated and she was rushed to the UHWI for further treatment, where she succumbed hours later.
Yesterday, as Senior again muscled up to face life without the woman he said changed his life in so many ways, he was still angry.
“I grew up watching my grandmother saving people’s life in the country area, delivering children out of their mothers, and now to see something like this happening to my own … this is just sad,” he said, insisting that he would not accept any excuses.
Senior was also critical of the Andrews Memorial Hospital, which has released a statement saying the C-section delivery at the facility was called off after Fearon’s physician’s team of independent anaesthesiologists refused to participate in the surgery.
“I was trying to man up and play the tough guy, the macho man, but mi nah tell no lie, every time I look at the baby and then look at Jodi’s picture, sometimes mi just break down. It’s very hard,” he said.
‘It Kills Me!’ - Boyfriend Of Late Jodian Fearon In Anguish
A major squabble has erupted between two Kingston hospitals over whether the death of a 23-year-old delivering mother was caused by a panicked breakdown in COVID-19 patient protocols by a medical team at the Andrews Memorial Hospital.
While the Ministry of Health and Wellness has launched an investigation into the incident, Andrews has denied culpability, pointing a finger in the direction of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) for not answering appeals for assistance. Andrews has also blamed a team of anaesthesiologists working with Jodian Fearon’s gynaecologist for refusing to engage because of fears that the patient might have had COVID-19.
She later tested negative.
‘Madness’ - Hospitals, Doctors Trade Blame As Delivering Mother Dies Amid COVID Chaos
Jephthah Ford, the medical doctor hired by Jodian Fearon's family to observe her post-mortem, said last night that the first-time mom was reportedly found dead on the floor at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI).
"She died a terrible death," said Ford.
He said the medical records and the post-mortem revealed that Fearon, who would have celebrated her 24th birthday on Tuesday, has a pre-existing heart condition - a hole in her heart. He said that the heart condition was noted in her medical records that was sent to all the hospitals to which she was transferred.
Fearon reportedly had flu-like symptoms, and was reportedly denied services at more than one hospital in the Corporate Area out of fear that she had the highly contagious coronavirus. She did not have the virus.
‘A terrible death’ - Doctor says Jodian found dead on hospital floor
A medical doctor has given graphic details of the pain and physical hurt to Jodian Fearon during the birth of her baby at Spanish Town Hospital before she died at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI).
Dr Jephthah Ford, medical practitioner, says Ms Fearon, just shy of her 24th birthday died on the floor of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the hospital where she had been taken after delivering her baby during a process when she lost a lot of blood. He said she was on the floor of the hospital for at least 20 minutes before her body was found.
The medical doctor has been retained by the family of Jodian Foster to observe the autopsy and matters as part of the investigations taking place into her death.
The autopsy Wednesday found she died of heart failure...
Graphic Details Given of Pain, Bleeding by Jodian Fearon
The Jodian Fearon Story | Sunrise: Exclusive | CVMTV (YouTube Video)
The Case of Jodian Fearon - All Angles - April 29 2020 (YouTube Video)
The family or Jodian Fearon wants the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) to release the full medical records of the 23-year-old who died at the hospital Friday night, April 24.
The family issued a statement Thursday evening, April 30, in response to one on behalf of the UHWI earlier in the day which said there was misinformation in the public over an autopsy done on Jodian Fearon Wednesday.
The family said, in a release, “We also note that despite our best efforts UHWI has failed to hand over any copies of the relevant documents to us.” The family members said in their release that they do not intend to question the “moral integrity” of the people who work for the UHWI, Ministry of Health and Wellness or any institution. “We only seek to find out how and why Jodian died. We only seek justice for Jodian.”
They said the release of Ms. Fearon’s medical documents at the hospital “will help us find an answer” to what happened.
Jodian’s family call for UHWI to release medical documents
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