Recovered COVID patient Demands investigation into Her father’s death From the same virus

An Upper Demerara/Berbice (Region Ten) mother of one is demanding investigations in to the recent
death of her father at the COVID hospital facility in the mining town of Linden.
Renee James said her father, Howard James, 69, died at the Wismar facility on May, 27 after he was
diagnosed with the deadly COVID 19 virus first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019.
The James family, father, mother and daughter all contracted the deadly virus after James, a taxi driver
was the first to complained of feeling unwell.
Renee said her mother encouraged him to take the COVID test which proved positive. It is believed he
contracted the virus while plying his trade as a chauffeur. Out of a n abundance of caution the rest of the
family also got tested and were all positive, Renee lamented.
She said her father related a harrowing tale about his treatment as a patient in the region ten facility.
“He wasn’t getting proper treatment…from the doctors and nurses while he was in there,” Renee recalled.
Renee said her father who was insulin-dependent was admitted on Sunday May 23 rd and died on Thursday
May 27.
Before his death he complained that healthcare workers ignored all his pleas for assistance.
“After being fearful about what I heard about COVID and its impact as the very day that he died I spoke
to him via telephone and he told me that he was hungry and was starving. He told me that he had asked a
nurse to make him a cup of tea because he was diabetic and was feeling weak. He said the nurse left to
make the tea but never returned. He said that he was hungry until he was getting ‘dark eye’” Renee
related.

The aggrieved daughter said that she immediately contacted her son who doesn’t live with her to take
some breakfast for his grandfather.
“My son said mum I can’t go there now as the people (Wismar hospital) have special timing in receiving
things for patients so I told him that your grandfather is hungry. He left and said that he will do it and then
I called back my father and he said, my daughter I was feeling reasonably ok but I still hungry till I
getting dark eye and at that time his speech was slurred so you had to be asking him repeatedly over and
over what he was saying. My sister called me shortly after crying as my father had called her too relating
the same things,” Renee noted.
The mother of one said that because her father was an insulin dependent diabetic and also being infected
with COVID it apparently showed other unearthed other complications from information related by Dr.
Michael Marks who heads the facility.
The disconsolate woman said her father never received his insulin the day he died. She blamed this major
lapse by the health authorities for the many times her father lost consciousness that fateful day and even
urinated himself.
The day after her father’s death Renee was placed on home isolation with the ailment. She said her fears
climbed dramatically, she admitted.
“I called Dr. Marks after my father died and spoke to him as I was very depressed and fearful considering
that my father died at the very facility. He (Dr marks) told me that I should come in and let them monitor
me for one day so that he can work on me. He promised to help me. My father was only a diabetic but I
had more issues as I am not only diabetic, I have thyroids, and high blood pressure, so when I was
hospitalised they began treating me with chlorophan,” she related.
Her private physician cautioned her about continuing to use chlorophan which he warned would keep
spiking her blood sugar levels. Armed with this information, Renee let the nurses substitute insulin as her
treatment.
Soon after, her mother joined her as a COVID-19 patient in the same ward.
“The reason I want to sound my voice is because the facility is very far from what one would say is an
acceptable one. I firmly believe that if my father was given his insulin on time, he may have been alive
today. It is my belief that the delay in administering his insulin and the fact that he begged to be given

something to eat and were ignored resulted in him probably getting worse and dying,” Renee said in
anguish.
The family is contemplating pursuing legal action against the Region Ten health facility plagued by
numerous glaring systemic deficiencies.
“Things need to change there drastically as more and more persons will continue dying, while in
their care”, Renee said in between sobs.