“The hospital killed her,” says Camille Carby, who lost her grandmother in January 2006. “She went in to get her blood pressure checked, ended up being hospitalized, suffered a stroke and died within ten days.” This is the common belief that a lot of South Jamaica residents have concerning Mary Immaculate Hospital. Locals refer to Mary Immaculate, along with Jamaica Hospital, as “The Death Hospitals.”
Another young lady, also a South Jamaica resident, who asked not to be identified, lost her father three years ago, also at Mary Immaculate Hospital. Her father was complaining of chest problems, and when the ambulance arrived her mother pleaded with them not to take him to Mary Immaculate. Instead, she wanted to go to Jamaica Hospital which was closer. “I knew once he went there he was not coming out alive,” says the young lady. She was right. While, at Mary Immaculate he suffered a heart attack and because of the number of patients and the lack of staff, he died at the age of forty.
Despite these two stories, on the Department of Health’s website, between April 2005 to March 2006, Mary Immaculate’s heart attack care performance was at 95%. Their heart failure care rate about 93%. “I guess things got better but I doubt that,” states the young lady. Carby, on the other hand, thinks that statistics are “fake.” “They are just trying to make themselves look good,” says annoyed Carby.
Twenty-two year old Larry Bethea, on the other hand, was “lucky” to make it out of the hospital alive. In 2006, he was shot in the right leg and was at Mary Immaculate for three months before he was released with crutches. “I’m happy that I made it out of there with crutches and not in a body bag.” His statement is in response to the number of friends and family members who were not as lucky. “There is just not enough staff,” states Bethea. “There are probably like two nurses for every 50 people.” Bethea’s statement may be an exaggeration but while he was there he had to wait anywhere from 15-30 minutes before a nurse was able to see him. When she finally did arrive, Bethea states that “she would come for ten seconds and then leave.”
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