Bellevue Hospital Chief Executive Officer Suzette Buchanan is calling for greater accountability and compassion in Jamaica’s healthcare sector after an incident involving her daughter at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in St Andrew.

Buchanan, speaking exclusively to the Jamaica Observer, said her 32-year-old daughter, Toni-Ann Kirlew, who is visiting Jamaica from Australia, became acutely unwell and was taken to UHWI’s Emergency Department last Monday.

Kirlew, who lives with chronic inflammatory and autoimmune-related conditions affecting her muscles and joints, had been experiencing severe pain, inflammation and stiffness as well as difficulty swallowing, eating and taking oral medication.

“She was physically struggling,” Buchanan said.

After spending approximately 13 hours at the hospital, arriving about 8:30 am and leaving around 9:30 pm, Kirlew remained in significant pain and had spent virtually the entire day in a wheelchair, according to Buchanan.

As they were preparing to leave, the situation took a distressing turn, she said.

The Bellevue CEO said her vehicle was parked some distance from the hospital, so she relocated the wheelchair-bound Kirlew near the triage desk while she went to retrieve the car. She said she was also concerned about leaving Kirlew near other patients who were coughing as her daughter is immunocompromised.

According to Buchanan, while she was away, an emergency room technician returned to the triage area and told Kirlew that she could not remain there. She said her daughter did not resist the instruction but instead asked the technician to assist her in moving the wheelchair.

In response, the technician allegedly told Kirlew to “wheel yourself” while placing her hands on the wheels. Kirlew then attempted to move herself but struggled because of the pain and stiffness in her hands and joints, Buchanan said.

She added that a security officer from KingAlarm eventually noticed what was happening and came over to assist her daughter.

“Toni-Ann was not refusing to move. She was asking for help to move. There is an enormous difference between those two things,” Buchanan said.

She stressed that she understood the technician’s position that Kirlew could not remain beside the triage desk.

“The emergency room technician may have been entirely correct that Toni-Ann could not remain beside the triage desk. That is not my complaint,” she said.

Her concern, she said, was that a visibly ill patient who was struggling to move had asked for assistance and, instead of receiving it, was left to attempt the task herself.

“She could have called a porter. She could have asked another member of staff for assistance. She could simply have said, ‘You cannot remain here, but let me find someone to help you,’” Buchanan said.

“When a visibly sick person cannot ask for kindness inside a hospital, where exactly are they supposed to find it?”

The incident was particularly upsetting for Buchanan because of her daughter’s condition and the length of time she had already spent in pain.

“When I returned and learned what had happened, I confronted the emergency room technician about her behaviour. I was angry, and I will not pretend otherwise,” Buchanan said. “I was a mother who had just learned that her sick daughter, still in excruciating pain, had been told to struggle with a wheelchair after specifically asking for assistance.”

However, Buchanan was careful to separate her criticism of the individual interaction from the treatment her daughter received from the wider hospital team.

She said the nurses and doctors were compassionate throughout the day and that the security officer who eventually assisted Toni-Ann also demonstrated the type of kindness she believes was required in the situation.

“I am grateful for the clinical care and compassion Toni-Ann received from the doctors, nurses and other staff who attended to her,” she expressed. “My complaint is specifically about the manner in which a vulnerable patient, still visibly in severe pain and asking for assistance, was treated by an emergency room technician as she was leaving the hospital.”

“I refuse to allow this conversation to become merely, ‘What happened to Suzette Buchanan’s daughter?’ No. This is about everybody’s daughter. Everybody’s son. Everybody’s mother. Everybody’s father.”

Buchanan said patients entering hospitals are already vulnerable and should not leave feeling further traumatised by how they were treated.

“A hospital should never become another source of trauma,” she said.

The visit to the hospital, Buchanan said, began with positive interactions with members of staff, including personnel in customer service, registration and at the cashier, as well as nurses and doctors who attended to her daughter.

“I want to make something absolutely clear from the outset: this is not an indictment of the University Hospital of the West Indies or its entire staff,” Buchanan said. “From our arrival, the persons we encountered in customer service, registration and at the cashier, as well as the nurses and doctors who attended to Toni-Ann, were courteous, attentive and compassionate.”

She said the doctors and nurses did everything they could to assist Toni-Ann, with the doctor who treated her being particularly compassionate and apologetic that they were unable to bring her pain under sufficient control.