By SANCHESKA DORSETT
Tribune Staff Reporter
sdorsett@tribunemedia.net
AFTER 23 years together and four children, Craig Forbes finally asked the love of his life, Shantell Michelle Bain, to marry him. But their wedding plans came to a screeching halt in July of 2017, when Ms Bain’s appendix ruptured, killing her almost instantly, just hours
after being sent home from the Princess Margaret Hospital with a kidney stone diagnosis.
Now after almost six months of “no answers” and “dead ends,” Mr Forbes said he just wants to know “how doctors could make such a big mistake”.
In an interview with The Tribune, Mr Forbes said his fiancee was a healthy woman who only went to to PMH three times – when she gave birth to their children, a boy, a girl and a set of twin boys.
On Sunday, July 23, 2017, Mr Forbes said Ms Bain, 44, called him at work around 1pm to tell him she “wasn’t feeling very well” and she was having stomach pains. Nearly 24 hours later, she was dead.
“Her sister took her to the hospital. I got there around 3pm and she was still waiting to be served. Around 10pm, she finally went in the back and the nurse gave her a morphine shot for the pain,” Mr Forbes said.
“I left her there around 1am on Monday to go get her phone and some stuff from home while she waited to see the doctor. She ended up getting an x-ray and was told she had kidney stones and she got a prescription and was told to come back in six days. She stayed there until about 4am because she was still hooked up to an IV and then she went home,” he said.
Mr Forbes, who did not live with Ms Bain, said he received a call around 2pm from their son Malik.
“That morning I went to go and get some fresh fish so I could make her some soup for her stomach. I went and got the fish and was cleaning it when my son called me crying. He said she couldn’t breathe and was vomiting,” he said.
“I left immediately but then I was told that her sister took her to PMH. So I went to get her some clothes because my son said she only had on a robe. I got to the hospital at 3pm and she was dead. I never expected her to be dead. The doctor said they tried to revive her and she came back but then her heart failed again and that was it. That’s when they told me her appendix burst.
“When I looked at her lying on that gurney I said, “Shannie, what do I tell the children - how do I explain it to them?
“I mean, I just don’t understand it. She had never been sick besides a cold and she only went to the hospital when she she had the kids.
“Why did they discharge her? How could they not know it was her appendix? How can you say she has kidney stones? I mean who makes such a big mistake? I have been trying to get answers but no one would tell me anything. No one at the hospital would speak to me.”
Mr Forbes said their children, Trinitee, 18, Craig Jnr, 17 and 13-year-old twins Malik and Vicario are all “coping” but he still feels like a big part of him is missing.
“The kids are okay but you can never really tell. I call myself ‘Madea’ because now I am mother and father,” he said.
“I mean life goes on but how do you really live when the person you love is gone? We really just take it one day at a time.”
The Tribune attempted to contact officials at PMH but calls were not returned up to press time.
Comments
licks2 6 years, 3 months ago
I feel for this family. . .from 1pm to 4am just to be missed diagnosed? Is it really better in the Bahamas?
sealice 6 years, 3 months ago
Once again more proof that we live in a sheethole in which ordinary citizens can't get proper medical treatment or just some form or respect. . . . .
realitycheck242 6 years, 3 months ago
Much infastructure improvements needed at the PMH , this sad story is the norm. NHI is a scam :
TalRussell 6 years, 3 months ago
Ma Comrade Realitycheck242, yeah, ask Sir Frankie to make the PMH a loan of his building demolishing bulldozer.
realitycheck242 6 years, 3 months ago
@ TaiRussell ....Sir Frankie should pledge one year of focol oil revenue for new beds and the repair of all hospitals and clinics in this country... He wont miss it , they make millions every month! .
bogart 6 years, 3 months ago
Very distressing. Dr. Sands should visit this family. More is needed from our Health prpviders but the challenges ultimately points to money. PMH needs to look at off balance sheet revenues like for instance building a Health Food Restairant on Hotel property on the crest of the hill behimd the University School currently used for parking lot. Parking relocated to biohazard waste area and move biohazard site. Guarranteed the best views in Nassau. Repurpose hospital records buildongs also located pn crest of the hill certain private sector will pay premium for those views which has panoramic view of harbour, ships, PI.
BaronInvest 6 years, 3 months ago
Imagine you would let doctors into your country and give them a permit to reside and work...
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 3 months ago
That presupposes a couple of things: 1.Inexperienced/incompetent doctors don't exist all over the world 2.One inexperienced doctor at PMH means they're all incompetent 3. How do you know the person who examined her wasn't here on a permit?
I remember when I was going off to school in Canada and I asked a local doctor if they knew any good doctors in the area, they told me, BE CAREFUL, not everyone in a white coat knows what they're doing. I've also heard harrowing stories of careless physicians in one first world country to the north. Added to that Dateline and American Greed cover stories on tons of these quacks. I understand there's a culture that makes persons reluctant to point out the bad apples, there's "social promotion" in many of the medical training programmes
sheeprunner12 6 years, 3 months ago
Where are all of the Bahamian doctors and nurses that the Government pays for to be trained???
Why do we have a doctor and nurse shortage???? ....... just like teachers and others??????
The Government needs to get serious about wasting precious resources on training when the country does not benefit once the professionals have been trained and do not give back.
OMG 6 years, 3 months ago
Let me see. You terminate a good foreign doctor and can't replace him. The MOH terminates 2 foreign nurses and doesn't have replacements. We hire Cuban teachers who are just here for the money . What do the public expect when people in authority are total dimwits.
JMF 6 years, 3 months ago
I am absolutely sickened by stories like this. The Bahamas should be much more developed and advanced. Decades of corruption is why we are experiencing this human tragedy. We must hold the government accountable. Hopefully, Dr. Minnis can Institute measures that will change the culture.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 3 months ago
" I went to go and get some fresh fish so I could make her some soup for her stomach. I went and got the fish and was cleaning it when my son called me crying. He said she couldn’t breathe and was vomiting,"
Sounds like a good man, I hope he gets the answers he's looking for and in time has peace.
Porcupine 6 years, 3 months ago
The exact same thing happened to my 13 year old nephew two months ago at PMH. Here on our small family island, in intense pain, it was suggested by our doctor here that he had appendicitis. An emergency flight out to Nassau and straight to PMH. They told him it was an infection, put him on antibiotics and sent him home. 4 days later, in excruciating pain he was on another emergency flight to Nassau. A burst appendix. Over a frigging week? It is suggested in the literature that surgery take place within 24-36 hours or risk death. That he is alive today is only by................................ This bullshit has to stop. The stories, all verifiable, are inexcusable in the modern world. Quit making excuses for this failed institution. Shut up and fix these obvious and life ending situations that are happening all too regularly at Princess Margaret Hospital.
ohdrap4 6 years, 3 months ago
years ago, a member of the forces contracted malaria while on a job trip to haiti.
PMH gave him chemotherapy. he died. Only afterwards they discovered it was malaria.
joeblow 6 years, 3 months ago
Stories like this should NEVER be published without presenting BOTH sides. This is irresponsible journalism!
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 3 months ago
I agree that someone from the hospital should have been at least asked the question, even if they chose to give a "no comment". But, the basic facts probably aren't in dispute, she was in the hospital for a few hours, was examined, had an X-ray taken, was sent home, her appendix burst and she died.
Social promotion in medical training programs is real.
I was told once by a doctor that adults are at serious risk when seeking medical care in the Bahamas. in most cases these persons are elderly and seeking in hospital care for the first time in their lives, when they die people naturally say, well they were old it was their time. I was told if children were dying st the rates of these adults seeking medical care, alarm bells would be going off.
The other side of the coin is that we have GREAT Bahamian medical doctors look no further than our esteemed Dr Sands and Dr Brown and there are many others. It only takes one bad to overshadow all the good. Better oversight and policies need to govern the training programs.
joeblow 6 years, 3 months ago
While this is most unfortunate, we still only have HIS presentation of the events. We don't know OBJECTIVELY what advice they were given, we don't know if they were discharged or left on their own. Sensitive and emotionally charged incidents like this cannot be presented to the public in this way!
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 3 months ago
Yeah I agree with you. But if she'd been diagnosed with acute appendicitis there's no way any doctor would have advised her that she could leave the hospital and no one hearing the full details of the probability of having their appendix rupture, the associated pain and the high probability of death, would leave. An old stubborn person might, but this lady was relatively young.
I think we can comfortably assume she was sent home as she was diagnosed with "kidney stones" and given a prescription. They gave her an IV treatment, but beyond that there's no need to stay in hospital for kidney stones.
Considering the circumstances, I'm not sure the hospital would have said anything as they could be at risk for litigation, but the reporter should have at least been complete and asked the question.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 3 months ago
Maybe she did have kidney stones. They may have thought that explained the pain....
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