Husband claims PMH probe into Kenise Darville’s death points to irregularities

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Princess Margaret Hospital’s probe into the death of mother-of-three Kenise Darville last month has been completed with the facility allegedly taking responsibility for “irregularities” in her treatment.

Her husband, Jerad Darville, told Eyewitness News that he met with officials last Thursday but does not yet have a written report.

He said he felt the investigation was thorough but was disappointed that the report didn’t identify any of the individuals responsible for administering care to his wife.

“They sat me down last week Thursday and they explained to me that their investigation saw irregularities in the way that healthcare was administered to my wife. And so we just further inquired on when we could get the written report, not until we get it in writing does it mean anything.

Darville said: “They said that there were irregularities in the treatment that she got, that if done differently she could have been alive. That’s the terminology the Managing Director used.”

“Honestly, they didn’t identify a single individual inside the report. I said well why isn’t anybody named, they just letting the organization fall on the sword.”

The investigation was launched following Kenise’s death on January 19, some two weeks after she was admitted to the hospital and less than a week after she live broadcasted her grievances with the level of care she received at the Princess Margaret Hospital. 

Darville, an entrepreneur, wife, and mother of three, accused the staff at the facility of negligence.

Yesterday, Managing Director of The Public Hospital’s Authority Aubynette Rolle confirmed to Eyewitness News that she met with Kenise’s “next of kin” last week.

However, Rolle said she was not privileged to discuss the content of the meeting as it is deemed confidential.

“As stated previously, should there be any gaps in the system, my office would move to mitigate and/or eliminate reoccurrence which can include change in processes, policy etc,” Rolle said.

For his part, Darville said there will not be true accountability until individual healthcare workers are identified.

“I feel like they did a good job, but I think that not enough focus was put on the individuals who were responsible for the healthcare of my wife,” he said. 

“I don’t feel like in their final report was there enough emphasis put on what the doctors were doing. Yes, we understand you found irregularities, but there was no further investigation in my opinion into the doctors.

He continued: “The entire organization took the fault, without addressing who in particular the buck had stopped with, that’s the only way we could provide true accountability. Without addressing who that person is in particular, it’s no consequences for whoever was responsible. 

Darville recalled several irregularities allegedly outlined by Rolle.

Kenise reportedly contracted COVID-19 despite being under barrier nursing protocols because she was immunocompromised.

Another alleged irregularity was that relatives were incorrectly told that the results of a bone marrow biopsy were delayed because a machine was not working.

“The doctor told the family it was not completed because the machine was down, but there was no machine associated with reading the biopsy,” Darville said. 

“It is done under a microscope, the fact that it took two months for them to come and say that the results came back inconclusive. The doctor said it took so long was not because the pathologist who was supposed to read it, didn’t read it in time, but said the machine was down. It was exposed that there was no machine down, it’s just the pathologist responsible for reading slides, did not read the slide until further probe to have the slide read.”

Darville said: “The managing director noted there was nothing in the notes that said my wife was to receive the Rhogam shot, to make her eligible to receive the blood. This is something that was guaranteed to the family if there was no O-negative blood, she would be given that shot so that she could receive O-positive blood.

“[Rolle] She said she didn’t see that in the notes, and nobody still is being held at this point publicly accountable.

“I don’t feel like it’s very first world. This isn’t something that happens in progressive countries where you trying to make systems better, not to hide or protect, but to make the system better.”

Darville added: “The family needs to know, the Bahamian public deserves to know that because at the end of the day, the Bahamian taxpayers are paying them to perform their job and the second thing is that Bahamian doctors operate in private practice. So on a position of consumer protection, for other consumers who pay for services, it should be made known.”