Family puzzled as mom dies in hospital after stomach pains

Georgeonna Taylor said she had no clue that when her mother Lisa Tracey was rushed to the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital last month, after complaining of stomach pains, she would not return home.

Tracey died on October 13, two days after she was taken to the medical facility. Taylor said, although it has been close to a month since her mother's passing, her family remains in disbelief.

"Her death is really being treated as sudden death currently, but I wonder what really happened. My mother was energetic and she loved to laugh and she was a really good person. She wasn't a sickly person, except that she was a mental health patient. But she was always up to date with her medication so it didn't affect her," Taylor said.

Tracey, 49, who resided with Taylor and other relatives in Grange Hill, Westmoreland began complaining of stomach pains and diarrhea on October 11.

"In the evening, I gave her some mint tea but she started to throw up. We took her to the hospital and she was admitted. She was placed on drip and pain medication and she didn't get anything to eat because she was on fluid because she was suppose to do an ultrasound," she said.

Taylor said the pain medication was having no effect. She said she hoped that the ultrasound would have an answer to her mother's condition and she anticipated her returning home shortly after. However, in the wee hours of October 13, she received a devastating call from the hospital.

"The Friday morning, which was two days after she was admitted, I got a call from a doctor that they found my mother in the bathroom unresponsive, and If I could visit the hospital. I didn't know what had happened but I know a call to come to the hospital couldn't be good," she said. "They said my mother was messing up herself on the bed [and had] to wash off. They said a nurse later found her in the bathroom and she had no vitals. My mother died and it just shocked all of us."

While not blaming the hospital officials, Taylor said that she can't help but wonder what caused her mother to take her last breath. She described her mother as a caring and kind-hearted individual who was full of life.

"Right now, I am stressed. I have cried every day because I can't believe. My mother was my backbone and all of this just happen so suddenly. We just want to get answers, so we are praying that the post-mortem will be done soon so we can lay her to rest soon. This was not the outcome that we were expecting," Taylor said.