Although the parents of 11 deceased babies have issued pre-action protocol letters against the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA), only the cases of seven are being treated by the authority.
According to reports, the NWRHA says any babies that died in the Port-of-Spain General Hospital NICU outside of the period April 4 to April 9 must be investigated separately.
The toll now stands at 11 babies, after Freedom Law Chambers led by Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan brought cases relating to babies that died in February and March as well.
However, the NWRHA is specifying that even though the parents of 11 deceased babies have issued pre-action protocol letters against the authority, it is only treating seven deaths as part of the cluster.
“We fully understand and respect the parents’ right to seek legal advice and to take legal action in this matter, and we are committed to working through the legal process, but each baby’s circumstances must be examined carefully in its own right and in particular anything occurring outside of the cluster in April must be considered separately,” the Authority said in a release.
The NWRHA said it was constrained in what it can say given the legal challenges, however, it noted, “the NICU is operating in accordance with established standards.” “The NWRHA has been and will continue to be fully transparent in these difficult and painful circumstances, as we work to better understand the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these premature babies and we look forward to cooperating fully with the independent investigation,” it added.
On April 11, the NWRHA in a statement issued, revealed that babies died as a result of infections. The authority explained then laboratory tests detected the presence of three dangerous organisms—Serratia marcesens, ESBL Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Klebsiella aerogenes.
It added in its first statement detailing the deaths of the babies, that between April 4 and 7, NICU staff observed a rapid deterioration in the clinical status of several neonates. It said upon recognising the severity of the situation, the medical team immediately initiated infectious diseases and control protocols for the treatment of late-onset neonatal sepsis.