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  • 6 months ago
A Sangre Grande mother, whose twin boys died in 2024, felt a sense of hope when her matter was taken up by Freedom Law Chambers.

But a year later, she now finds herself with even more questions amidst her grief, as the Law Firm has decided not to pursue the case.

Alicia Boucher has her story.
Transcript
00:00After the story of Farah Rattansingh aired on TV6 on April 12, 2024, she was contacted by Freedom Law Chambers.
00:08It came on the heels of the breaking news that seven babies had died during a bacterial outbreak
00:12and a Port of Spain General Hospital neonatal intensive care unit between April 2 and April 9, 2024.
00:20Rattansingh had given birth to twin boys at a gestation of 28 weeks at the Sangre Grandi General Hospital on January 6, 2024,
00:28but the NICU there was full and the babies were transferred to the NICU at the Port of Spain General Hospital.
00:35One of the boys died on February 22, and the other twin died four days later.
00:40Both had infections.
00:42When Freedom Law Chambers decided to represent Rattansingh, the Sangre Grandi mother was hopeful.
00:47They called and asked to take up the case, and like a few months after, they called and said, I don't have a case.
00:55Did they explain to you why you don't have a case?
00:57Not really.
00:58Did they say the babies was, the babies born 28 weeks and sometimes it have 40% mortality rate
01:09or something like that.
01:10So I was like, I don't understand.
01:13And I thought other things that happened in the hospital that is alarming.
01:17Based on Rattansingh's WhatsApp chat, that was since August 2024.
01:33I never reached out to nobody, them reached out to me.
01:37So I was hoping like, you know, it would have been a good box.
01:42Klebsiella pneumoniae was listed on the medical notes for one of the twin boys.
01:46It was among two other bacteria, Klebsiella erogenes and serratium assassins, found in the NICU outbreak.
01:53But the hospital did in fact provide its explanation of what transpired, including that one of the boys had the bacteria.
02:14I would suggest that there are certain things the hospital told you, that one, you do not understand, two, you're not buying it, right?
02:24Because, I mean, the kind of things I saw going on in that hospital, it wasn't, there, it had no prevention for infection and all these things.
02:37I mean, it had, it had no prevention.
02:44The kind of things was going on in there.
02:47While counselling was made available through discussions with the law firm and the Northwest Regional Health Authority,
02:53for the parents of the cluster of seven, the Sangu Grandi mother says, that was not offered to her.
02:59Nobody never called me, but they just take my name, but nobody never called me.
03:04The freedom of James, they took my name, but nobody never called me for counselling.
03:09The grief she feels is something she's had to contend with on her own.
03:14How has life been for you since that time, Jumbo?
03:18Harder. I mean, I lost, I don't know what happened to my kids.
03:23It's a real hard. Some days I look, some days I look.
03:28In Ratan Singh's mind, the deaths of her babies have been swept under the carpet.
03:34Would you have gone a different route if they did not reach out to you?
03:38I probably would have looked for a lawyer or get better advice as to how to go about it and what to do.
03:48TV6 News reached out to Freedom Law Chambers concerning Ratan Singh's situation.
03:54The law firm tells us the medical expert it got to review the files of the twins indicated that based on the evidence,
04:01there wasn't a viable case to pursue for medical negligence.
04:04As such, the law firm took the advice it received.
04:07Meanwhile, the legal matter involving the initial cluster of seven babies is still in progress.
04:14But will the change of government impact the position taken previously by the board of the NWRHA?
04:20It's a question for which the answer is pending.
04:23Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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