Family members of the late Joshua Woodrosse, 18, who succumbed to injuries he received one day following a road accident, are seeking answers as they are claiming the young man was taken off the life support machine without hospital officials informing relatives.
However, the hospital says the victim was never on life support and had in fact arrived at the medical facility “brain dead”.
Police said Woodrosse, a resident of One Mile Extension, Linden, Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice) died on Tuesday at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) whilst receiving medical treatment.
He was involved in an accident along the Enmore Public Road, East Coast Demerara (ECD) on Monday morning, during which he suffered from internal bleeding.
Woodrosse’s sister, 24-year-old Alliha Peters, told this publication that the victim was on a life support machine and that hospital officials never contacted the family to seek permission or even inform them that the young man would have been removed from the life support machine.
Peters said on Tuesday, she had left the hospital to go home to freshen up, and shortly after, she received a call saying she was needed at the facility. Upon her return, she discovered that her brother was removed from life support and his body was already on the way to the morgue.
“By the time I reach home, I bathe my skin and I sit down, I get a phone call [saying] we needed at the hospital. When I go back in the ward, they done wrap up my brother body without me knowing, without me seeing him and they just carry he off wherever they had to put he. They did not explain to me well, when we remove this child from inside of this ward, is that he would no longer be getting this life machine, they did not explain that, they just take him off without my knowledge,” Peters lamented.
Peters further bemoaned that her mother did not even get to see Woodrosse before he was removed and wrapped up. She also revealed that upon leaving the hospital, she was told by a doctor that they removed her brother from the machine because he was suffering.
“…the doctor could have watched me in my face when I leaving the hospital and tell me he take him off of that machine because he feels was suffering. You have no right taking [him] off that life machine, you needed our permission, that’s not how you do it. You don’t have our feelings, you could only tell we what you assume, you’re not God,” Peters contended.
Brain Dead
This publication reached out to the GPHC’s Communications Manager Chelauna Providence who said based on the hospital’s records, the patient was never on life support.
“This patient was brought in to A&E and he came in with severe brain injury. He was evaluated by ICU and by neurosurgery and based on the medical evaluation, he was declared brain dead. He was in the A&E for a while and he was on a ventilator and then he was transferred upstairs to the surgical ward where he was placed on oxygen and then he died the following day,” the GPHC spokesperson explained.
“The patient was declared brain dead because of the severe brain injury he had, the doctors determined that it wasn’t possible to recover him. He had irreversible injuries and the damage was too extensive for him to have any medical intervention at the time. So for the time being, he was being left on oxygen to basically support him breathing and then the patient died…So he wasn’t on a life support machine at anytime nor was he taken off of one.”
Woodrosse had attended the Enterprise Secondary School. From time to time, he would work in the construction sector.
According to his sister, he was at the time heading down from Linden to inquire about some work when he was involved in the crash.
Police had explained that the accident involved minibus BWW 2571, owned and driven by a 48-year-old resident of Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara; minibus BAD 5584, driven by a 39-year-old from Enmore; and a motorcycle driven by Woodrosse.
According to reports, minibus BWW 2571 was proceeding east along the northern side of Enmore Public Road at a fast rate of speed whilst the motorcyclist was proceeding west along the southern side of the said road.
As both vehicles approached each other, minibus BWW 2571 swerved south into the motorcycle’s path, causing the motorcyclist to lose control and collide with the back of the minibus.
The bike further collided with the right-side bumper of minibus BAD 5584, which was proceeding west on the road.
As a result of the collision, the teen motorcyclist fell on the road surface and received injuries on his body. He was subsequently picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the GPHC where he remained until he died.
