Baby Patricia dies at hospital

AFTER battling for two weeks just to breathe, the struggle for life proved too much for frail baby Patricia. On August 8, baby Patricia succumbed to complicated health problems and died at the nursery of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). Baby Patricia was born by Caesarian section while her mother, Patricia Montrichard, died in the delivery room of SFGH on July 28. In her two weeks of life, the child was kept incubated, hooked up to a respirator machine and fed via a tube inserted down her throat. Doctors later diagnosed her with a stomach infection and the child’s father, Cypriano Cova, donated a pint of blood in a desperate attempt to save his daughter’s life. This Wednesday, Cova said, the doctors handed him both the birth and death certificates of his daughter at the same time.

An autopsy revealed that death was due to complications arising out of brain damage and respiratory failure. Cova, of Agostini Village, Rio Claro, said he was contacted around 4 pm last Friday while at work at TTEC and told of his daughter’s passing. With only ten relatives present, the baby girl was buried at the Penal Cemetery on Thursday morning following an intimate ceremony at Boodoo’s Funeral Agency. The father said he made the decision to spare the Montrichard family further grief and so did not return to Rio Claro to bury the child. “I am sad about the baby’s death but she was suffering so much. At least now she is out of misery.” Meanwhile, hospital authorities are continuing investigations into the sudden death of Montrichard, 27, as requested by her relatives. Cova and Montrichard’s relatives have filed a written request for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death. The family said they intend to take up legal action against the hospital.