(Trinidad Guardian) Registered nurse Natasha Samuel says her baby girl Skiye died at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital NICU on April 9. She says the baby was her last hope of becoming a mother.

One of two death certificates showing the cause of death for baby Skiye from the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.

A 42-year-old registered nurse who lost her baby at the Port-of-Spain Maternity Department’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) says the death of her child has dashed all hopes of her becoming a mother.

The nurse, who also works at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, detailed what she called the “hoggish and unprofessional behaviour of some members of staff” even towards one of their own colleagues.

The feeling of hopelessness was laid bare in a 17-page pre-action protocol letter sent to the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) by attorneys of Freedom Law Chambers led by Anand Ramlogan, SC. The pre-action letter, on behalf of Natasha Samuel, is part of a class action lawsuit for 11 babies who died between February and April 9.

The legal letter detailed that on March 13, Samuel gave birth via Caesarean section to a baby girl named Skiye Wilson after 32 weeks gestation. The neonate weighed 835 grammes and was placed in NICU for observation.

Samuel said she felt betrayed by her own colleagues after they told her that her child was “well and progressing nicely.” She added that after some time she saw fewer babies at the NICU and was told that the infants had been discharged as they got better. It was only sometime after that she learnt that six other babies had died all from bacterial sepsis.

Samuel said her sense of betrayal worsened after she was given two reports by the Port-of-Spain General Hospital with differing causes of death signed by two separate doctors.

On April 9 one doctor wrote that the infant had pulmonary haemorrhage, sepsis and prematurity were the cause of death for baby Skiye. In the second death certificate dated yesterday—April 19—signed by another doctor, Skiye is reported to have died of pulmonary haemorrhage, prematurity and extremely low birth weight. Unlike the first certificate sepsis was changed to presumed sepsis in the second death certificate.

After her child died, Samuel said she felt broken, deceived and betrayed.

“She had overheard the nurses saying that there were bacteria and that the innocent babies had been infected. Our client said she was devastated because her baby was thriving well and as a nurse, she knew how important it was to have a well-sanitised NICU, yet people were in and out of the ward without gowns and gloves.”

The letter from the law firm added that the death of baby Skiye brings the nurse’s dream of motherhood to an end. “Our client instructs that she was broken because at age forty-two, this was her last chance at having a baby, one which she had eagerly anticipated and longed for.”

After giving birth, Samuel underwent tubal ligation (having her tubes tied), preventing her from ever having children again.

“This loss has therefore had a devastating impact on her,” said the pre-action protocol letter.

Added to her woes, was the treatment she received from her own colleagues in the healthcare profession.

“Our client’s nightmarish experience at the PoSGH, has caused her to realise that there is merit and truth in the public’s account of the hoggish and unprofessional behaviour of some members of staff. There was no professional courtesy given to her as “one of their own” so she shudders to think what ordinary members of the public would have to endure. Instead, she experienced the raw and ugly reality of the incompetence and irresponsible, ignorant, and unprofessional attitude of the medical staff.”