Teen mom blames hospital for death of newborn

Seventeen-year-old Daniela Blake was looking forward to becoming a mother. She told this newspaper that she kept up to date with her prenatal appointments and eagerly looked forward to the day she would meet the bundle of joy growing inside her.

Blake delivered her baby at the Spanish Town Hospital on October 5, but when she spoke with THE STAR yesterday, there were no tears of joy, but those of pain and heartache. Her newborn died at the St Catherine-based medical facility six days after she was born. The heartbroken mother is convinced the story would have been different if she got help from a member of the medical staff.

"Mi need justice for my child because I had plans for mi pickney life," Blake said.

"Mi a just 17 but mi carry mi baby for nine months and I had plans for her. Mi nuh miss clinic date. Mi do everything to ensure say mi have a healthy baby," the distraught teenager wailed.

Blake said she was admitted at the hospital on October 4 and doctors decided to induce labour . She said that with her contractions minutes apart, a nurse told her to 'push', but she was not advised how to do so.

"Mi a push and a push ... and this lady just stand up and watch mi a push and mi not doing it properly. She seh mi not cooperating so she come out a di room leave mi on mi own," Blake said.

The young woman alleged that after leaving the delivery room for a while, when the nurse returned, she asked, 'Weh unno come in a hospital with uno problem fah?'"

"Mi keep on a beg her to help mi and mi a tell har say mi nuh want mi baby to dead. Mi tell har say even if mi dead, mi nuh want mi baby dead," Blake said.

She told THE STAR that a doctor eventually came to her aid and delivered her daughter. However, there was no sound from the child as she entered the world. Blake was not prepared for what she was about to be told.

"Dem tell mi seh mi baby have brain damage, kidney problems and was in a coma. Dem tell mi say half a mi baby head mash up. This morning, [yesterday] dem tell mi say she dead. Mi need justice fi mi baby," she said.

Contacted about the matter, the hospital's CEO, Jacqueline Ellis, said she was unaware of the matter and encouraged Blake to lodge a formal complaint.

"We really sympathise and we are ready to support in any way we can. However, I am not aware of the matter, but it will be investigated. I also encourage the client to make a formal complaint to the hospital. We are also open to offer counselling sessions once the client agrees to it, but I am really sympathetic as it relates to the loss of the baby," Ellis said.