By FARRAH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN is looking for answers after her daughter, who tested positive for COVID-19, died in Princess Margaret Hospital shortly after giving birth.

Shakinah Dean, 20, was admitted to PMH on August 16 after she began experiencing shortness of breath and vomiting blood. Ms Dean, who was nine months pregnant at the time, tested positive for COVID-19 three days later. After giving birth to a baby boy on August 20, the young mother remained at the hospital where she died less than a week later.

Yesterday, Shakinah’s mother, Karen Dean, told The Tribune she is seeking closure concerning the untimely death of her daughter which she believes is due in time on the ward.

“I’m looking for answers and I want to know that something has been done... in some way or form as regards... my child,” she said.

Ms Dean, who described her daughter as “happy and full of life,” said the young mother had an unpleasant experience during her ten day stay at PMH. She claims staff at the hospital did not give her daughter enough attention, given her condition.

“On several occasions she knocked on the wall to get the nurse’s attention,” she claimed. “She was asking for water at one point and she said the nurse came to her and asked her if that’s what you call me for and left and didn’t bring the water back right away.”

She added: “Because Shakinah had a breathing issue, she had oxygen and she had a hard time walking to the bathroom which was far from her bed. She would have a breathing attack on her way to the bathroom and she would have to sit and try catch herself in the bathroom before she attempt to go back to the bed. . . Bear in mind she just had a child a couple days prior.”

Ms Dean said she has not heard from any health officials since Shakinah’s death last week. She also said the family has not been informed of her daughter’s official cause of death as yet.

She explained her daughter wanted to be transferred to the COVID-19 medical facility on Blake Road, but was transferred to another ward in PMH instead.

Ms Dean claimed Shakinah had a “horrible experience” in that ward.

“The morning before she died when I spoke with her via video call, she said she was calling the nurse because she was cold and wanted them to turn the air-condition down, but the nurse never came.

“She told me ‘God forbid if something happens to me, (baby) Sha’kyre is all yours.’ I told her she had to speak with life and hope. I told her she had to pray for God to bring her out of there so she could come home, but she said ‘Mummy you have no idea how I feel’ and later that morning she died. She was showing no signs the day prior, but early that morning when I spoke to her, she seemed as if she was giving up because she couldn’t get (any) help. . .”

Ms Dean claimed that at one point during her daughter’s hospital stay, her son went to PMH with juice and water, but no one ever came out to retrieve the items for Shakinah. She said her son left after waiting for two hours.

Yesterday Catherine Weech, the managing director of the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA), said the organisation is currently investigating the matter.

When asked to respond to the allegations made against some hospital staff, she said: “That doesn’t sound like something that we would do. I don’t know the details, but certainly we will look into it and produce a report. But that just doesn’t sound like something we would do to our patients.”

Meanwhile, Ms Dean said her family has not been given a timeline as to when they will receive more information on the circumstances surrounding Shakinah’s death.

“No one has contacted me as yet in reference to it and I’m going to try and get funeral arrangements done because she’s still in the morgue,” she said.

“I haven’t gotten a death certificate or nothing and I want to see the COVID results, but no one has reached out to me as yet. I’m going to deal with that this week.”

Despite the sudden loss, Ms Dean said she chooses to reflect on the loving memory of her daughter.

“Shakinah was always joyful and had a smile that would light up a room.

“She had an aura about her where if you came in contact with her, you had to love her. That was just who she was.”