NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A 54-year-old woman died on Tuesday at Princess Margaret Hospital just days after she was set to be discharged after several rounds of dialysis treatment, according to relatives.
Relatives of Zena Rolle, a diabetic, said they received a call from the hospital on Mother’s Day, advising that she was in critical condition — a call that puzzled them.
The loved ones said they found Zena in her hospital bed with her skin blistered and peeling off on over 95 percent of her body.
Relatives immediately recognized the disorder as Stevens-Johnson syndrome — a rare and potentially fatal disorder usually caused by an unpredictable adverse reaction to certain medications or sometimes by an infection.
“She looked as if she was placed in a furnace. Her skin was burnt and peeled off,” said Zena’s niece, Sherry Benjamin, as tears fell from her eyes.
“When I got there on Sunday, she was in excruciating pain.
“She was still able to communicate, [but] her tongue and her mouth looked as if she had swallowed acid or something because it was discolored and had a lot of lumps and stuff on it.
“Looking at her lying in the bed was frightening and it was shocking. And it was as if history was repeating itself…”
Benjamin said her older aunt also experienced the rare disorder while at PMH in 2015, though she survived.
Benjamin said had Zena died from a complication related to her diabetic condition, the family could understand.
She said someone had to be held accountable.
In a statement, the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) said the matter was under investigation.
The PHA said any updates on the matter will be provided to the family in accordance with its policies.
“To protect the confidentiality of our patients, the process for formal complaints by patients and/or families is to complete the investigation and communicate with the patient and/or their family regarding the necessary updates and information,” read the statement.
Benjamin also alleged that despite her aunt’s condition, she was not admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“I am not going to stop until we justice for Zena Rolle, because she didn’t deserve to die like that,” she said.
Zena’s sister Anita Hudson said the family begged for doctors to alleviate her pain on Sunday, pointing out that she was “moaning and groaning in pain”.
“It was so bad. To me, that’s inhumane, you know,” she said.
She continued: “People have to suffer and die and you just don’t care. And then they try to tell you all kind of off-the-wall story to just like get you off of that and make you look like you’re stupid, like you don’t know what you’re talking about. This is just wrong and I feel like somebody needs to be held responsible.
“People nowadays don’t even like to go to the hospital. They’re scared to go to the hospital because they feel like they’re going there get to die. You are a doctor, you are responsible for people’s lives. That’s not a game. That’s not a joke.”
Benjamin said while the disorder is very rare, it appears to be becoming a more common occurrence, touching their family three times at the hospital in the past seven years, including her sister-in-law’s daughter, who continues to deal with the effects today.
“We shouldn’t be having this,” she said, adding that the family is “broken and eating up inside”.
“Something is wrong and our minister of health, the hospital authority, they need to wake up and they need to pay attention. Families like us shouldn’t have to be going through this. I have not slept since Tuesday.
“I am fighting to keep sane, to keep normal, from what I witnessed.”
According to Sherese Rolle, another sister, a medical doctor at PMH eventually advised the family that Zena could have had a reaction to a medication administered by the renal or dermatological physicians.
Rolle said the doctor also asked if there was a history of the disorder in the family, indirectly confirming the cause.
She added that the call she received on Mother’s Day, advising that her sister was in critical condition, was the first call she had received on her sister’s condition in a month from PMH.
Relatives described Zena as a once “bubbly person” who became quiet and reserved as a result of a traumatic experience in her adult life.
They said Zena was well-loved by friends, family, and the children in the neighborhood whom she gave sweets whenever they asked.
