Philipsburg/St Johns:--- The legal guardian, Elliot Richardson and mother of the late Cassandra Carty has approached the Inspectorate of Health on St. Maarten to investigate the death of their loved one. The late Cassandra Carty (42) was a client of the Sr. Bassillia Centre located in St. Johns and also an employee of the St. Maarten's Home. SMN News learnt that Cassandra was having tooth aches and a swollen jaw some two weeks ago and she visited her family doctor who advised the centre and the patient not to extract her tooth since there was an abscess under the tooth. SMN News learnt the family physician prescribed antibiotics and other pain killers for Cassandra. According to the guardian no one from the centre notified him as her legal guardian that his niece was ill and that she had gone to the see a doctor. Richardson said he received a phone call when Cassandra was admitted to the hospital a few days later. Richardson said besides that Cassandra is a disabled person and she is not allowed to take decisions on her own. Furthermore, she is a diabetic and he wants to know why his niece was kept three days at the centre with a swollen jaw. Most importantly the family wants to know what exactly caused her death. The mother of the victim said she herself has lots of questions for the dentist and doctors of the St. Maarten Medical Centre. She said she is a highly qualified nurse in the United States and she wants to exactly what caused her daughter's demise.Director of the Sr. Bassillia Centre Carlson Richardson confirmed that the client who passed away is also one of his relatives and he knew she was having tooth aches and that she was taken to her family doctor. Richardson said the client was not satisfied with what her family doctor told her so she requested to visit another doctor on the French side who also told the care giver and patient that she is forbidden to remove the tooth. Richardson said that doctor also prescribed antibiotics but Cassandra already had antibiotics so they did not buy the second set of medication. "At some point Cassandra and the care giver went to see Dentist Dowling in Cay Hill and that person extracted the tooth even though there was an abscess and the jaw was swollen. Richardson said after the extraction Cassandra was taken back to the centre but after her jaw remained swollen, they took her back to see her family doctor who immediately made contact with the St. Maarten Medical Centre to have the patient admitted. Richardson said the dentist told the patient and care giver that the tooth had to be removed. He said the dentist made the decision to remove the tooth. He said one would think that the dentist would have taken the necessary precaution before removing the tooth. Richardson said normally when clients are ill they are taken with their care plan to their doctors. "In that file the dentist could have seen that Cassandra was a diabetic and most importantly that two other doctors advised not to remove the tooth since there was an abscess in the gum." The distraught director said ever since this happened he is not functioning well since only two months ago he lost his father. Asked why the centre did not notify the legal guardian, Richardson said that when clients are ill they do not notify the relatives immediately. He said if patients have tooth aches or fevers the centre would take the clients to see their doctor. "We did not expect something like this to happen. Cassandra saw multiple doctors and even though her jaw was swollen she was not in a lot of pain. He said that the care givers were wondering why her jaw remained swollen and she herself requested to go back to the doctor. "Cassandra's tooth was extracted one week before she passed away and we were not negligent, we took her where she wanted to go, however, as the head of the institution and her first cousin I want to know what killed her. How did this happen and whose fault it was?"
Her legal guardian Elliot Richardson said "when Cassandra was admitted it was then they called me to say she was in the hospital, on October 19 and I immediately went to see her and the specialist told me that Cassandra's blood level had fallen to 4 and she had to be transfused back to 10. He said he spoke to his niece, but later that day she passed away." Elliot Richardson said that his niece was disabled but she was a brilliant woman. "Cassandra spoke English, Papiamento, Dutch and Spanish and she was also computer literate. Even though she was disabled she knew how to take care of herself and she was scheduled to move to her Hope Estate home later this month.
