Doc questions authorities’ reluctance to confirm COVID death

Family physician Dr Adrian Lorde is questioning why the elderly man who died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Accident & Emergency (A&E) Department with COVID-19 has not yet been recorded as the eighth person to have died from the virus on the island since the pandemic started last year.

Today, in what is becoming a weekly video of his views on how Barbados is managing the pandemic, Dr Lorde said that while the law states that persons dying within 24 hours after being admitted to A&E must receive a postmortem, the reality stands that test results showed that the elderly man had contracted the deadly virus.

Expressing his sympathies to the deceased, the well known doctor said he cannot understand why health authorities are refusing to say that the man died as a result of COVID-19.

“What else did he die from? He had the respiratory illness all the time. He is 84, yes. You want to prove it is natural causes so we say we only have seven [COVID-19 related deaths]? I know you want to calm the public and not cause any panic, but you cause more questions than answers,” Dr Lorde said.

On Sunday, Minister of Health and Wellness Lt Col Jeffrey Bostic informed the nation that the country had recorded the death of a Barbadian whose passing is being investigated by health officials as possibly being related to COVID-19.

Bostic said the elderly man came to Accident & Emergency last Saturday evening, after feeling ill.

“This gentleman had a long history of lung disease and chronic non-communicable diseases. He passed away while his case was being fully evaluated by medical staff. Exercising an abundance of caution and thoroughness, medical staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital took blood samples for COVID-19, and the results of those tests now show that the patient was positive for COVID-19,” Bostic said.

However, Bostic cautioned the public that at this stage, “we can only say that the death may be COVID-related”.

“Whether from COVID or complications from his other illnesses cannot be ascertained until the completion of a post mortem. Please let me assure the public that every precaution is being taken and all recommended safety protocols are being followed,” Bostic added.

But, Dr Lorde is advising the Minister of Health that while people have died with COVID-19 throughout the world, there are no postmortems being done to determine if the persons have the virus.

“You said the person was positive for COVID-19, had respiratory problems and died. So what is the problem? We frightened to add on numbers. We frightened to say if it is community spread. We frightened to say if we have the new variant. And now we frightened to say if the man died from or with COVID-19,” the doctor said.

During the four-minute video, Dr Lorde questioned whether Head of the Health Communications Team Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson was still in quarantine.

“You said there will have press conferences on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. And now things change. So I guess this week we will see Liz again and she will tell you why we didn’t have a press conference, I don’t know.

“We have over 1100 persons testing positive. A lot of people are still being monitored and some are being released, even before that second negative test. So people protect yourselves. And I hope that the very sick visitor who is at Harrison’s Point recovers. I know Dr Corey Forde and the group up there are working feverishly to try to save her, so we will hope and pray that she does well,” he said.

Dr Lorde is also lobbying for hazard pay for private practitioners, indicating that the medical teams at QEH, including doctors, nurses, and therapists are getting it.

“I don’t know who to ask. I don’t work for Government. I am an ordinary family physician on the frontline. So I want some hazard allowance,” Dr Lorde said. (AH)