Legal proceedings have prevented SERHA from releasing report – Morgan
Published:Saturday | February 12, 2022 | 12:05 AM
There are conflicting reports about why the findings of an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of Shanique Armstrong at Spanish Town Hospital between May and June last year have not been made public.
Minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Robert Morgan, who has responsibility for information, said legal proceedings have put a stop order on the Government’s decision to make the report public, but chairman of the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), Wentworth Charles, told The Gleaner that the investigation was never completed because Armstrong refused to cooperate. However, he said recommendations on the way forward were made.
HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE
Morgan, who had previously committed to making the report public, said any release of the report would have been “highly inappropriate” and “maybe even prejudicial” to the legal process.
He was responding to a question posed at Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew when he commented.
“Our approach as a government has always been to give the people the information, but we also have to be restrained by the legal processes that take place from time to time within the society,” Morgan said.
“Yes, it was the intention, but then a legal process kicked in and we have to honour the integrity and authority of the legal process of the court.”
Last Thursday, Charles told The Gleaner that personnel from the hospital attempted to interview Armstrong on several occasions but she had been “reluctant” to speak.
“She said all communication with Spanish Town Hospital was to be done through her attorneys,” Charles disclosed.
He said that Public Defender Arlene Harrison Henry had written to SERHA on Armstrong’s behalf and a meeting “agreed or arranged”.
He said it is not clear what transpired after.
The Gleaner was unable to reach Henry for comment on the matter on Wednesday.
A statement released by SERHA, the statutory body responsible for the delivery of healthcare in the parish, and senior medical officer for the hospital, Dr Jacqueline Wright-James, said based on preliminary findings of a probe, “clinical procedures were followed”.
Armstrong, who died last month after ailing for some time, had said she would not respond to hospital staff, insisting that the results of the preliminary probe had painted her as a liar without even speaking to her.
The 27-year-old woman’s 24-week-old baby died under controversial circumstances at the hospital.
Armstrong had insisted that she delivered her baby by herself in the waiting area of the Accident and Emergency Department.