~ Says they believe student doctors are operating on patients. ~
PHILIPSBURG: --- The grieving family of the late Allan Paul Madray is still lost as to how their loved one died in Colombia after having an open heart surgery there on January 25th, 2023.
In an exclusive interview with SMN News, his widow Mohini Madray questions the decisions taken by St. Maarten cardiologist dr. Emiko Bird whom she said was present for both surgeries her husband underwent at Clinica de Occidente in Cali Colombia.
Diagnosis and referral to Curacao and Colombia.
Mrs. Madray explained that in November 2022, her husband began experiencing some mild chest pain, and because of the mild pain, they decided for him to have a physical examination in order to get a proper diagnosis.
Mrs. Madray said her husband was sent to the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) where he was given an appointment with Dr. Emiko Bird. The first appointment was for him to have an echocardiogram, while the second appointment was for him to do a stress test. At SMMC she said an error was made and the echocardiogram was done twice, and on December 27th, 2022, a stress test was done. “It was after the stress test that Dr. Bird informed my husband that he had blocked arteries and that he needed to travel to Curacao. Without consulting with his immediate relatives Dr. Bird made the necessary arrangements for Madray to travel to Curacao for an angiogram and possibly to insert stents.”
On January 3rd, 2023, Madray and his son Steven Madray traveled to Curacao where an angiogram was conducted and it was determined that Madray had to travel to Cali Colombia for further medical examinations.
The younger Madray said that there is some sort of connection between the cardiologist in St. Maarten and the doctors in Curacao and Colombia. Madray said all the doctors his father encountered in Curacao are from Colombia, no one speaks English or Dutch. “If you cannot speak Spanish then you are doomed, and patients are referred to Colombia because it looks more like some type of business arrangement and every patient is just another number.” By January 8th, 2023. The Madray’s said the surgery was delayed because Clinica de Occidente said they needed authorization from SZV, but they believed it had to do with regulating payments.
Steven Madray said that another angiogram was conducted in Colombia and then it was determined that open-heart surgery was needed. The Madray’s said that they were not informed that Allan Paul Madray was going to Colombia, they were told that he was going to Curacao and that the plan was for him to return to St. Maarten, but that did not happen, instead, he was sent to Cali Colombia. Mrs. Madray said had she had the opportunity to fully discuss this matter with the cardiologist in St. Maarten she would have preferred her husband to travel to the United States for such surgery.
Lack of proper medical care and surveillance.
Steven Madray said that when the angiogram was done his father was awake, and he was in the room with his father when he noticed that his blood pressure went very low that his father passed out. “I saw the machines and the readings and also saw my father’s reaction and I had to run and get doctors, to stabilize him.” The medication that was given to my father is what sent his blood pressure down and he could have had a stroke in his room even before the surgery because there is no proper care and surveillance done for these patients. Something is wrong with the medication because it sends the blood pressure very low and the patient was not in Intensive Care Unit (ICU).” Madray said he asked the doctors for an explanation as to the lowering of the blood pressure, and he was told that it was a reaction to the medication.
The younger Madray said two very young doctors namely Dr. Tapia Neira Fernando and Alejandro Ospina Guterrez presented themselves as the surgeons and they also had them sign a number of documents without having the documents translated or explained to them. Madray said that there were no translators to explain to him or his father what they were signing and they signed documents that were presented by both doctors.
Madray said on January 25th, 2023, was the last time he saw his father this was just prior to him going for the open-heart surgery. He said his father never woke up and on January 26th, 2023, his father had to have a second surgery because his father got a cardiac arrest after the surgery, he said that after the second surgery he was told that there was internal bleeding and that created clots that the doctors in ICU told him were removed, yet his father died without ever waking up.
Surgeons disappeared.
Steven Madray said that despite his father’s passing he never saw the two surgeons that operated on his father. He also explained that no one from Clinica de Occidente did not meet with him to explain to him what happened to his father. Madray said he remained in Colombia for 5 days after his father’s passing and not once he met with any representatives from Clinica de Occidente or the doctors that performed the surgery.
Steven Madray and his mother Mohini Madray said they are still baffled as to what happened in Colombia and they are still trying to come to terms with their loss, they said they want to know what role Dr. Emiko Bird played in this entire affair, they explained that while Dr. Bird referred Allan Paul Madray to Curacao and Colombia, she was present in Colombia and witnessed both surgeries. Steven Madray said he met with Dr. Bird on January 26th, 2023, when his father got a perioperative stroke and she was also in that surgery. “As the referral doctor on St. Maarten, we are yet to see Dr. Bird get some explanations as to what killed our loved ones. Dr. Bird returned to St. Maarten and acted as though nothing happened and we strongly believed that the medication given to Allan Paul Madray and negligence is what killed him.”
Steven Madray said that while in Colombia he was not told that the body was going to be embalmed. He said the family requested an autopsy but the autopsy was not granted because the body was embalmed. The family said they want answers and they believe the person that can provide the answers is Dr. Emiko Bird, while Clinica de Occidente has to be held responsible for the people that died while in their care.
