Fingers are pointing at possible negligence at the St George’s General Hospital for the death of 68-year old Joshua Paul who died over the weekend after being shot last Thursday by a member of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF).
A high-level medical officer at the hospital who spoke confidentially to THE NEW TODAY, called on new Health Minister Senator Jonathan La Crette to put systems in place for a review of the protocol in place to handle persons who are seeking medical treatment from gunshot wounds.
“The fellah (Paul) should have survived,” he said.
Police claim that the deceased was shot after he was arrested with a bag of drinks coming out of a shop that he had broken into on Seaton James Street in Grenville, St. Andrew.
According to a police report when they were escorting the suspect to the Grenville Police station “the prisoner started fighting with them and as a result the prisoner was shot in the left knee.”
The medical source said that the injured man was taken to the nearby Princess Alice hospital at Mirabeau for initial medical attention for the injury to the foot and was stabilised and then taken to the main General Hospital in the city.
“He was alive and everything was in order,” he said.
The medical official told THE NEW TODAY that an operation was conducted on Paul at the General Hospital and he later died allegedly from haemorrhaging.
He called on the new Health Minister, Sen. La Crette to do an overview of the system in place at the General Hospital to make sure that “the necessary surgeons perform their duties” that are required in shooting incidents.
The source pointed in the direction of a lapse in the system for the relevant persons “to call (out) the necessary people … and do what they’re supposed to do” to handle shooting incidents.
“Anytime there is a shooting incident (a certain person) is supposed to come in and make sure he or she supervises everything – he or she supervises what is taking place and they are not doing that,” he said.
The medical insider charged that there was “big bacchanal” at the General Hospital after the death of Paul from the injury on his foot.
“…They had meetings after the man died – they are trying to move the blame. As usual they are trying to put the blame on the police,” he said.
“The man was alive – they had arrested the bleeding to a certain level and the man died from haemorrhaging. The haemorrhaging is from after they did the operation,” he added.
Paul is known to be a close relative of former police Sergeant Carl Caton, who is now associated with the main opposition New National Party (NNP) and contested the rural St Patrick East seat in the 2008 general election.
The deceased is well-known to the police who have arrested him on numerous occasions in the past mainly for house break-in offences.
An attempt to reach Sen. La Crette was unsuccessful as calls were unanswered.