Trinidad: SWRHA launches internal probe after viral video shows mother alleging neglect of premature baby

Trinidad and Tobago: Shortly after a video made rounds across social media platforms showing a first-time mother pleading for help as she claimed that doctors were not attending to her premature baby, the South West Regional Health Authority in Trinidad responded to the viral video. 

According to the information, the sister of the patient took to Facebook to share a video of her as she was laying half naked on the hospital bed with her newborn baby, who was alive and in a bag in her arms at the San Fernando General Hospital.  

She claimed that her sister and her newborn were being neglected by the hospital staff, and she had been calling for assistance since several hours, but the doctors were not coming to attend her or her baby. The sister was also heard shouting at one of the nurses to call the doctors, but the nurse failed to respond in the matter, causing further anger. 

The incident caused significant outrage among locals and netizens online, with everyone calling for the hospital staff to be fired.  

In response to the outrage, the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) assured everyone that an internal investigation into the incident has been launched and noted that the infant, at the time of writing, continues to receive specialist care at the San Fernando General Hospital’s high risk Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The SWRHA further expressed its concern with the video recording and its abridged version on the mainstream media which according to the authority shows an isolated and transient excerpt of an encounter of a valued client at an acutely sensitive as well as private matter, at one of their in-patient care facilities.  

It also emphasized that whilst all details which are contained in the video recording are not true, the Authority has initiated an internal investigation with the view of determining the extent of compliance to established protocols and practices in compassionate and clinical empathetic care, particularly rendered to expectant parents experiencing a premature birth.