Delayed autopsy stressful for grieving family

The family of Rose Marie Gayle, who died hours after giving birth at the Port Antonio Hospital last month, are no closer to finding out the cause of death.

Carlene Smith, Gayle's sister, said when relatives turned up at the St Ann's Bay Hospital for an autopsy on Wednesday, they were told that the procedure wasn't even scheduled.

"It's adding so much more stress to what we are going through already because we keep on having delays. Losing a loved one is already hard and then to be up and down trying to sort things out is not easy," Smith told THE WEEKEND STAR.

Stillbirth

Gayle died at the Port Antonio Hospital on January 30, hours after her baby was a stillbirth. Smith said hospital representatives told them that the autopsy was scheduled for February 10.

"We get here from 5'o clock in the morning just so we could get there on time, spend our fare," she said. Smith believes that someone at the hospital should have communicated with the family if there was a change in plans

"Nobody from the hospital let us know anything and the number they call us on, we tried to get back to them and we couldn't get through," she said. "The pathologist at St Ann's Bay said in order for him to do an autopsy on a patient, he has to know their history and Port Antonio had only sent it over to him on Tuesday and he already had other stuff dealing with and he had communicated that to them at Port Antonio."

However, when THE WEEKEND STAR contacted Angenice Whyte, public relations and advocate officer for the North East Regional Health Authority, she revealed that the investigating officer on the case would be the one to inform the family, as the case is no longer a hospital matter.

"The family should reach out to the investigating officer on the case to find out the new date set for the autopsy. I understand that the family is upset but Port Antonio wouldn't have anymore handling of the case, and based on what I got from the persons at St Ann's Bay Hospital, they were also informed about the autopsy at the time when the family showed up," she said.