So far no therapy offered yet to 2-year-old child that was heavily affected during pregnancy.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The parents of “Baby Polanco” Oliver Vincent Arrindell aka Bolo and his wife Basilla Polanco contacted SMN News on Sunday quite frustrated because he is stuck with his young child that is partially handicapped due to negligence from the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) during his wife’s pregnancy and delivery in April 2015. Arrindell said he left St. Maarten on January 15th, 2017 after he went to some media houses to expose what he has been going through since the birth of his child.
Arrindell said shortly after his story was published the Minister of Health cabinet intervened in order for him to travel to the Netherlands for his child to continue treatment. He said on January 15th, 2017 his family departed St. Maarten and ever since then they have been staying in a hotel that has no kitchen facilities for him to prepare a meal for his child. Arrindell said that even though he is now in the Netherlands his son has not been receiving the necessary therapy, instead, the doctors in the Netherlands have been sending him for more testing.
However, his main plight is that he and his family are stuck in a hotel and he is not able to prepare proper meals for his sick son. He said that he is obliged to prepare his child meals in a tea-pot and that he has to take water from the bathroom unless he buys bottled water. “Can you imagine, we are making soup, porridge, and coffee in the same pot for our son, this is a hotel and there is nothing here for us to cook, even the water we have to take from the bathroom pipes if we don’t have bottled water.”
Arrindell said that while the Minister cabinet intervened in order for him to travel to the Netherlands no proper arrangements were made for him and his family, especially his sick son who was supposed to begin therapy. He said when he left St. Maarten he was given a phone number to contact USZV representative (Trans-Care) but the officials there told him that USZV refused to pay for him to get an apartment where he lives normally and take care of his son in a hygienic way. “USZV told me that when I reach the Netherlands I have to register the child in the Netherlands in order for the Netherlands to take over the expenses of the child’s medicare. Arrindell said when he tried to register the child he was told that he could not register because he does not have a living address since he is staying in a hotel. He said he contacted Trans-Care and they were told that USZV has refused to finance the expenses for an apartment.
Arrindell said he was in the same situation when he went to Colombia with his child for further medical treatment, he said he and his family had to stay in a hotel for three months, while in the Dominican Republic he was able to secure an apartment there.
Going back in time Arrindell said that his wife, the mother of three children, has some medical issues with her pregnancy and she was supposed to receive treatment during her pregnancy in order for the child not to be affected. However, SMMC missed the wife laboratory diagnosis and did not give her the required therapy and as such his son developed severe jaundice within 3 days. He said his son was born on April 16th, 2015. Shortly after he was sent to Curacao where the child underwent a complete blood transfusion and then they traveled to the Dominican Republic and Columbia for further treatment.
The devastated parents told SMN News on Sunday that their son will have lifetime effects from the negligence of St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) and while his family is doing their best to cope with the situation they are placed in, they are having more trouble every day because SMMC has not taken the financial responsibility, although they have admitted to have committed medical errors, and USZV have them begging to provide the funding for his son to receive proper medical care.
Arrindell also told SMN News that he retained the services of a local attorney to go to the hospital for medical malpractice and negligence. He said since he is the Netherlands he also sought the services of another law firm to go after SMMC because he cannot continue with the inhumane treatment he has received over the past two years. “People have to understand that my son will never be able to perform like any normal child, he is not able to use his hand and he is almost two years old, he cannot walk as yet and ever since I am in the Netherlands we are in a hotel, without proper food, facilities and most of all my son is not receiving any treatment.”
SMN News contacted the Director of USZV Glen Carty who is currently off island. Carty said he does not have all the information on the Arrindell case but promised to consult with his staff on Monday in order to respond to the allegations made by the Arrindell family.
