THE SEASON OF DEATH TO MOTHERHOOD

By: Fredrick Kissoon: - Kaieteur News
August 10, 2003
Reprinted: November 18, 2004.

Reclining under a tree at the National Park, contemplating the lovely ambiance and listening to the latest CD of Yanni which as an interesting title, ETHNICITY, I saw this young woman leave the jogging track heading towards me on the grass.

Her trousers were faded navy blue, her blouse, brightly tangerine and her walk, tardy. I was apprehensive. My personal life has been subjected to severe amorous interpretations by three talk show hosts and a newspaper columnist. Now will I be described as being under the shade an early morning with a woman in the National Park? I was getting annoyed; can’t a guy get some privacy please.

She came up to me and it was clear as a sunny day on the beach that this woman was unhappy. Her face painted a picture of pessimism and fragility of life. She asked for my attention. I gave it to her.

This woman, who for a moment I wanted to avoid providing my detractors with more fictional accounts of my personal life, opened my to a world with a world in Guyana that I never dreamt existed despite my long years of journalistic investigations.

I rose to speak since I didn’t want her sitting next to me. She said last month she had a hysterectomy at a private hospital and was assured by the doctor that her womb was infected beyond repair and had to be taken out. Obviously, she lost her child-bearing function.

She is convinced after speaking to the right persons that her womb could have been saved. She pointed me to another case like hers. I advised her to speak to Dr. Ramsammy, Minister of Health.

I specifically steered her away from the Guyana Medical Council because of personal disappointment with that body that absolutely refused to investigate a complaint by a certain high official in the Guyana Revenue Authority against a member of the medical profession, who threatened to expose his wife’s medical records. Somehow by her expression, I felt she had given up and wouldn’t want to consult institutions of power on this matter. I got the distinct impression she wanted me to write about it. I promised her I will do so and that I will speak to the other woman. I bent down to pick up my disc-man and newspapers and as I got up, I saw the face of despondency.

What follows is an account of my investigation. I went to Campbellville to see the other victim of supposed unnecessary hysterectomy. She related a situation of days of bleeding from her womb.

She went to this private hospital where her condition was diagnosed as a cancerous womb. She gave permission to have it excised. Her husband told me that he became suspicious when he learned from a friend’s wife that she had a similar problem and that the doctor from another hospital scraped off some fibrous tissues from the wall of the womb that was the source of bleeding.

This man firmly believes that his wife’s womb was not infected. So why is this hospital performing hysterectomies that are uncalled for?

I sought the confidence of two of my friends in the medical profession. Both are as prominent physicians/surgeons as any in this county and they are doctors of conscience, a species that is fast dwindling in Guyana. My friends know about twenty tow wombs that were removed at this hospital for the month of May and less than five warranted excision. For June, the figures were slightly down but still in the late teens.

They also explained that this hospital prefers to deliver babies by caesarian route rather than normal delivery. Both doctors are advising the Government of Guyana to set up an urgent committee to investigate this private city hospital.

Why so many hysterectomies? Because it is a money-making process. Five hysterectomies cost a million dollars. If a hospital does ten in a month that is a lot of dollars. Caesarian deliveries cost six times more than a normal procedure of child delivery.

What we have here is a case of a hospital removing women’s wombs for profits. And these women are psychologically tortured for the rest of their lives because motherhood for them is dead. When a woman does a caesarian delivery, her abdomen carries a scar for life.

I journeyed to the PHG to find out the truth behind these hysterectomies. All organs that are removed from private hospitals have to be sent to PHG labs for pathological (BIOPS is the word the medical guys use) examinations.

Dr. Madan Rambarran is the Medical Director. He said that he is aware that the organs must be lodged with PHG but he did not check to see if there was a suspicious rise in wombs coming from a certain private hospital.

So he wasn’t in any position to check to see if the tests on these wombs revealed that their removals were medically unnecessary. He promised he would ascertain the numbers of wombs coming from this particular hospital, but would be in no position to speak to me on his findings, since permission to do so have to be had from the Minister of Health. Dr. Rambarran suggested I pursue the matter with the PHG’s pathologist, Dr. Neehaul Singh.

I told the Minister what I had discovered and the impeccability of my two sources but I couldn’t name the doctors to the Minister. Dr. Ramsammy’s position is that if the facts can be verified then Guyana has a medical scandal on its hand and therefore, he would not have a problem with Dr. Rambarran speaking on medical malpractice once the patient’s confidential records are kept off limits. I contacted Dr. Rambarran only to find out that he was out of the country. I went back to the Minister for him to give Dr. Neehaul Singh to speak to me.

Dr. Singh says he needs instructions from both the Minister and the CEO of PHG in writing. However, he said that it is for the Ministry of Health to order an investigation into my claims. He said the files are to be studied though the wombs from May and June would have been discarded already. I spoke to the Minister again and he said the publication of this story here should focus attention of the practice of this hospital.

The spirit in which we spoke leads me to believe that after today’s publication of this column, some movement will occur. I am asking women groups to investigate this hospital. I know my sources are correct. Two other PHG specialists say they are willing to testify.

These four doctors will speak out publicly one an inquiry begins. Motherhood is too precious to be taken away for mere profits. Motherhood is the source from which civilization springs. The end

I sent this letter to Kaieteur News and it was published in their letter column two days after Mr. kisson's article was published.

Dear Editor, on Friday November 18th, you reprinted an excellent article written by columnist Freddie Kissoon. Freddie in his usual no-nonsense style brought to light the frightening occurrence of women undergoing hysterectomy operations. Mr. Kissoon rightfully asks the question whether these hysterectomy operations were necessary or if it was the case that a small group of doctors were carrying out these operations simply for profit. This is a frightening revelation and one that demands a thorough investigation by the Ministry of Health. The amazing thing about this story is that was first published in August of 2003 in Kaieteur News and yet none of the so called women’s organizations ever commented on it. Surely something that can impact so heavily on the lives of women in which they lose their child bearing capabilities because of an unnecessary operation should have caught the attention of some members of these groups, but not a word from any of them, strange to say the least.
I guess that the response from the medical council of Guyana on this scary issue would be that we live in a third world country and that as patients, we should learn to understand our third world place by keeping quiet regardless of the pain and hardship that we are forced to bear due the incompetence and greed of some heartless doctor. I have never been burdened by the third world curse simply because my fore parents came from Scotland and Portugal and I do not for a single moment considers myself to be less of a human being than someone born in the USA or any other developed country and as such because of my inherited first world attitude, I intend to continue asking the question that our medical practitioners do not like to hear.
Prime News on November 24, 2004 carried the story of Marcel Yhip who was told that she needed to have a hysterectomy to remove the fibroids that tests had indicated were on her uterus, unfortunately after the operation the pathological examination reveled that no such fibroids were found even thought her entire uterus was taken out. Surely the doctor who carried out this operation should have made sure that the prognosis was 100% accurate before undertaking such a severe operation. Surely the experience that he must have acquired over the years after undertaking numerous such operations should have indicated that he was about to make a mistake, can he truly say that he cannot differentiate between an uterus infected with fibroids and one that is fibroid free? The young lady that Freddie Kissoon wrote about in his article is not Marcel Yhip, so it means that we have at least two cases on record of women being unnecessarily operated on. Just imagine how many more unfortunate women are out there who are suffering silently because of someone else’s fault or greed. It is only when victims such as Marcel Yhip decide to speak out on the injustices that they have suffered that we will see changes in our medical system. Since my last letter on this issue, I have had numerous calls from women who have had hysterectomies and the names of just a couple of doctors are being called time after time. Let us have an intense inquiry so that we can get to the bottom of this frightening issue and I’m hoping that the various women’s groups will come out in support of this call.
Yours faithfully
Bryan Mackintosh - Health Advocate

 Please visit our web page on Hysterectomy to learn more about this medical procedure and how it can affect you as a woman.

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The Patrick Denny story

The following letters were published in the Stabroek News on the death of Kenneth Denny. Mr. Denny died at the Prasad's hospital after he was operated on by Dr. Santosh. We intend to follow this story and will report as it unfolds.

Unprofessional journalism
Tuesday, November 16th 2004
Dear Editor, I knew the late Patrick Denny. He was a decent, down to earth individual. I also know Dr Santosh, not personally but professionally. He is a surgeon attached to both the Georgetown and Prashad hospitals. He operated on Mr Denny. I do not know anything about the nature of Mr Denny's illness or the clinical condition or the operative findings and procedure. What I do know is that Adam Harris is totally out of order (KN14/11/04) in suggesting that Patrick Denny's death was due to "Surgery gone wrong" by Dr Santosh. Harris has become judge and jury without knowing all the technical facts - and he does this because he has access to writing articles in a newspaper. Jumping for Dr Santosh's jugular because Mr Denny was his personal friend is totally unprofessional.
What Mr Harris should do is argue in his newspaper for the Medical Council to get more teeth - so that when a case has been tried by a doctor's peers - and a decision arrived at - some smart aleck lawyer won't take that case to some judge and get an injunction against the council's decision without that judge even listening to the medical council's side - as happened recently when the council took a decision to prevent a doctor from doing surgery. The doctor took a lawyer who got a judge to grant an injunction against the council without listening to a word from the council. You know what? That doctor operated again. The patient died in Georgetown Hospital ten days ago. I do hope the court is well satisfied. Now Mr Harris - I want you to take up that story.
Yours faithfully,
Dr M.Y. Bacchus
Editor's note: We are sending a copy of this letter to Mr Adam Harris for any comments he may wish to make.

The medical council should investigate some of these cases
Wednesday, November 17th 2004
Dear Editor, My deepest sympathy goes out to the family friends, SN and loved ones of the late Patrick Denny. He was a journalist par excellence and certainly will be missed by all, including readers. I have read the letter by Dr. M. Y. Bacchus captioned "Unprofessional journalism" (16.11.2004). Like most who are privileged to have worked or been treated by Dr. Bacchus, I have the utmost admiration for him and his work. I also support his call for Adam Harris to pick up the issue of the doctor whose practice has resulted in deaths.
I hope the Medical Council will be just as diligent in seeking the truth surrounding Denny's treatment at Prashad's and his death. One does not have to be a medical person to know something went wrong with Patrick Denny's hospitalisation and treatment.

Dr. Bacchus' rush to defend Dr Santosh is understood as rarely do doctors expose the malpractices of other doctors and Guyanese being none the wiser bury their dead with no justice being meted out to them or no sanctions imposed on these doctors, surgeons, anesthetists, or other health care providers. Recall the death of Somattie Singh and others. Whatever surgery Patrick Denny had and whatever conditions he had prior to his surgery that may have impacted on the pre and post op risks he faced is left for the Surgeon and the Anaesthetist (?) to determine and treat accordingly. This is also important for the support nursing staff to be aware of so that appropriate care can be administered. Can Dr. Santosh or Prasad's hospital say if all measures were adhered to and if proper pre and post op screening and management of Patrick Denny were indeed done, also if there were any complications with the surgery or with the administration of anaesthesia. What were the findings of the surgery and were these in keeping with the need for surgical intervention? What were the findings of the anaesthetist in terms of Mr. Denny's ability to withstand general anaesthesia and recover with minimal complications, if such an evaluation was done? These findings and results must then be subjected to further professional scrutiny and wider evaluation as doctors do make mistakes and the public is left at a disadvantage in a society like ours where there are no malpractice suits being filed. Poverty being a factor militating against many who suffer from medical negligence no wonder those who can afford it go abroad for treatment, not that they have no risk but they have the law on hand to offer them protection. Mr. Denny's family should seek these answers to his death which should not be accepted as just another worthless statistic of medical malpractice. No doctor should be above this and even as Dr Bacchus seeks to castigate Adam Harris for his journalism he should similarly be influencing the Council to investigate. Maybe the council should be more proactive in these cases that create such public outcry, after all they owe the society safe medical practices.

Yours faithfully,
Debra Archer