Family told relative fell from wheelchair at hospital

The sister of a woman who died at the St Ann's Bay Regional Hospital on Tuesday, January 19, is demanding answers, alleging that her sibling fell from a wheelchair while at the institution, which may have contributed to her death.

Ann Marie Smith said that her sister, Keisha Brown, 43, suffered a stroke at her home in Kellits, Clarendon, on Sunday, January 17, after returning from church.

According to Smith, when they arrived at the hospital, a blood test was done and she was given a letter to do a CT scan at a laboratory in Ocho Rios.

"The test was done and we brought her back, and still there was no bed. She came in Sunday and up to Monday there was no bed for her, just a wheelchair," she said.

Smith said the doctor who read the lab report confirmed that her sister had a stroke and tissue in her brain was severely damaged. She was then scheduled to do an MRI the following day.

Condition got worse

"Tuesday morning the hospital called stating that her condition got worse and we need to come to the hospital. When we got to the hospital, we didn't see her in the wheelchair so with a sigh of relief, we thought yes, she finally got a bed," said Smith. However, Smith alleges that a patient told them Brown was still in the wheelchair until about 4:30 that morning until she fell out of it. The family was told that nurses then picked her up, placed her on a stretcher and transferred her to a bed. Smith said a doctor finally told them that about 6 a.m. "they saw her (Brown) having difficulties breathing and she did not make it."

"All now no one has mentioned the fall. All the other people who were sitting up with her saw but apparently no doctor or nurses, including the ones that picked her up," Smith said. THE WEEKEND STAR was unable to get a comment from the hospital administration.