Boy dies after hospital injection

Michelle Le Maitre, mother of Shurvon Le Maitre who died after receiving an injection for a swollen ankle, is now seeking legal action against doctors at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) whom she claims caused the death of her son. Shurvon, a student of Belmont Junior Secondary School who resided at 6A Independence Square, Port-of-Spain, died on Wednesday morning two days after being treated for a swollen ankle at the PoSGH.

A perplexed Le Maitre, single parent of five and checker with NHA, was trying to come to terms with her son’s death mere days after his complaints of a swollen ankle sustained after playing football on Monday afternoon. “It is unbelievable,” she told Sunday Newsday, “you do the right thing by carrying him to the hospital and this is what happens.” After “taking a sweat” with friends of his neighbourhood, Shurvon complained of a sprained left ankle. His ankle became swollen by morning and Shurvon was taken to the PoSGH. Le Maitre said: “An X-ray was taken which showed that his ankle was just sprained, not broken or fractured. He just needed a bandage. The doctor prescribed a pain killer which was an injection on his butt.” She said that 30 minutes later, as Shurvon was being wheeled out of the hospital, bumps began appearing “all over his body. He say ‘mummy all by my eye swelling.’ Right away I took him back inside the hospital and he was given another injection which I believe must have been the antidote.”

Shurvon, she said, remained under doctor’s observation for 30 minutes, then given a prescription for Paracetemol for pain and allergy tablets and thereafter discharged. “He came home, bathe, lie down, and they tell me to elevate the foot so I put it up on two pillows. About an hour and a half after, he started complaining of chest pains and started vomiting black. By night-time he said he not feeling good only saying ‘mammy meh inside.’ He looked dehydrated so I bought coconut water for him,” Le Maitre said. “He got worse so I called for an ambulance about midnight which didn’t come until one in the morning. When we got to the hospital the doctors started asking if he was on drugs, if he smokes. My son was right there; he said no. They sent us to Mt Hope (Medical Sciences Complex) and I noticed that he started getting cold in the ambulance.

When we got there they told us that the doctors should have pumped out the medication he was given. Right away they began the procedure, but it was too late.” Shurvon died at 4.50 pm at Mt Hope Medical Sciences Complex. His autopsy, according to Le Maitre, revealed death as a reaction from the injection. “I am seeking legal action because this is negligence. They ain’t clean him out and send him home to die. I want parents to really know what really going on. Ah mean yes, we poor and stuff but just imagine how my son just die so.”