KINGSTON, Jamaica – At least one family who lost their child as a result of the recent bacterial outbreak at two of the country’s major hospitals is considering filing a lawsuit against one of the health facilities.

Sheldon Spencer and Danielle McKenzie told OBSERVER ONLINE that they have already consulted an attorney on the matter.

Their son, Dimitri Penglas Spencer, was born at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) on June 23, 2015. He died at 10:15 am on August 14.

Dimitri was the couple’s first child.

“For the first three weeks he got sick every week,” McKenzie told OBSERVER ONLINE.

“They gave him antibiotic and he would get better. It wasn’t until after the post-mortem that they told us he had Klebsiella,” she explained.

Klebsiella was one of two bacteria identified as being responsible for the deaths of 19 of 42 infected premature babies at the UHWI and Cornwall Regional Hospital.

Dimitri’s parents are also not satisfied with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s decision to reassign former Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. They believe more should be done.

Read the parents’ complete story in tomorrow’s Observer.

David Wright