Jenny Lovell's sudden death in June was a shock to Belize and to her family. But could the 73 year old have been alive today if it weren't for the negligence of the medical team at the Western Regional Hospital?
Tonight, her sister Glenda who is an experienced physician in the US says that her sister went into the hospital with acute respiratory failure, and should have been admitted to the ICU - instead she got a few tests done and she was discharged later that night.
She's calling it malpractice and has demanded a full investigation from the Minister of Health and Wellness.
Here's what she told KREM News:
In early July Belizean's Bid Farewell to their beloved Song Bird Jenny Lovell who passed away suddenly from a heart attack in her home in Belmopan. Her grieving family members though, suspect that Lovell could have survived the ordeal if she had been treated properly the first time she visited the Western Regional Hospital just hours before her passing. Her sister - who is a Doctor of Internal Medicine with 25 years experience in the US - says it all began with a cryptic string of messages from an unknown number and that's what led her to dig deeper into the death of her sister.
Dr Glenda Lovell, Relative of Deceased
"She didn't have any kind of asthma or as far as I know no history of any heart disease she was not a smoker she didn't have emphysema nothing. So her death was a shock to all of us I had gone traveling and when I landed and got to my hotel I received a note to call home immediately and then I was like oh my goodness something happened and when I called they said Jen is gone and I was like what? So I flew back right away and then a few days later I received this like two picture on my phone an anonymous person and it was her medical records. And when I looked at it I was like why ii saw that she had been taken to western regional in extremist. she was hypoxic which means that her oxygen levels were very low. They were in the 80s which is a life-threatening emergency. when I looked at the notes, she was given oxygen and they did a few labs and did a chest x-ray and then of course, given when you give someone oxygen their levels come up, but you need to find out why they were hypoxic in the first place, so she was given oxygen and then discharged which is basically malpractice. So I was like I was questioning what's going on here."
Dr Lovell says that she wrote to the Ministry Of Health and its Director of Hospital Services a month ago, but has not gotten any response. She says that all the family wants is for someone to be held accountable for what she sees as egregious negligence:
Dr Glenda Lovell, Relative of Deceased
"I would have thought that she had a heart attack and actually the death certificate showed that she had a heart attack, but the heart attack was caused by a massive pulmonary embolism which is why she was short of breath in the first place and if they had investigated that they could have treated her and she would not have died."
"If they have addressed it, they have not informed any member of the family. What was the outcome? None of us have heard anything and that's all I'm asking. I just need to know what happened so that this does not happen to other Belizeans."
Director of Hospital Services Polanco told KREM News that the issue has already been addressed but the family says no one has contacted them since they wrote the letter on July 25th.
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