By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
Claudine McNeil, who died recently at the Kingston Public Hospital. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer
IT WAS a bizarre 24 hours for Majorie Williams. The 42-year-old housewife was called to the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) to identify the body of her sister on Saturday night. When she turned up at the hospital Sunday morning, she discovered that her sister was still alive on a life support machine.
But, in a dramatic turn of events, Miss Williams was again called to the KPH just after 2 p.m. on Sunday, this time to confirm that her sister had actually died.
Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Miss Williams explained that her younger sibling, Claudine McNeil, 31, complained of head pains on Friday night and was taken to the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH). She was eight months pregnant.
"We heard she had the baby Saturday and when me go look fe her Sunday, a nurse at the Intensive Care Unit called me inside and sey me must come identify me sister, because she dead," said Miss Williams.
She said she recalled asking the nurse why her sister's body was still on the life support machine, if she was indeed dead. She said the nurse told her that they had just not removed the body as yet.
The family members went to the morgue looking for Miss McNeil's body but, after several checks, they were told that no body with that name had been sent to the morgue. They went back to KPH, where they discovered McNeil was still alive and on the life support machine. Yesterday afternoon, when they went to see the sister's new-born, they were greeted with the news that she was dead, for real this time.
"Right now, we don't know what really happened. We need some answers," said a tearful Miss Williams.
Residents on Fourth Street in Trench Town, where Miss McNeil lived, are confused and are demanding an explanation.
Contacted yesterday, Donald Farquharson, the new CEO at KPH, told The Gleaner that a preliminary report into Ms. McNeil's death was completed, but that the information could not be released without the formal permission of Ms. McNeil's relatives.
"I have actually completed the preliminary report, but I have been otherwise advised that unless a patient or the family of the patient supplies us with formal approval to release information on their behalf, we would have been overstepping our bounds (to release it)," he said.
He said "regarding more in-depth details such as the cause of death, more research would have to be done.
"They will have to request it. As soon as the doctor has completed the medical report, we would love to accommodate a meeting with the family to further discuss the matter. We are willing to meet with them, to take them through the case, from a medical perspective, for them to understand her illness and how she succumbed to the particular illness," said Mr. Farquharson.
