…says parents were in denial
Three-year-old Anisha Singh had an intrinsic brain stem tumor that caused her health to rapidly deteriorate but her parents were in denial despite many explanations from the team of doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
This is according to Head of the Neurosurgery Department at the Georgetown Public Hospital, Dr Amarnauth Dukhi, who said that the child’s tumor was inoperable and that it would have reached the stage where it began to compress the brain stems thus resulting in the symptoms that Anisha was experiencing.
Samantha Kandasammy and Michael Singh, the parents of three-year-old Anisha accused doctors at the institution of serious malpractice, which they claim resulted in the death of their toddler. Anisha, of Lot 2 Edon Street, Tucville, Georgetown, passed away at a private institution at around 02:00h on Tuesday morning after her parents discharged her from the GPHC against her doctors’ advice.
The distraught parents said that their baby girl was healthy but had a cold, which was later diagnosed as pneumonia, but the doctors at the GPHC failed to treat her for that which may have caused her death. They added that the hospital also withheld the medical records preventing them from accessing care at another institution and possibly overseas.
The neurosurgeon said that the tumor was inoperable and no matter what, no institution would have operated on it. He explained from the initial diagnosis that Anisha’s parents were in denial as they refused to believe that she had a life threatening tumor and as such he organized a multi-disciplined team to address the situation.
The team comprised of social workers, the Chef Executive Officer of GPHC, the Director of Medical Services, the pediatric neurosurgeon and several nurses.
Dr Dukhi explained that the option of radiology treatment was discussed but the radiologist wanted the tumor to be biopsied which would have been fatal and that was explained to Kandasammy and her husband. He noted that in most case like Anisha’s, the patient would eventually die.
He also said that at that juncture, the mother became abusive to medical personnel on his team but that was brushed off in an effort to provide quality care to the family.
The hospital expressed its condolences to the family of Anisha. (Lakhram Bhagirat)
