NOT

IN

THERE

by MELISSA ROLLOCK

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO) of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Dr Dexter James has admitted that Reynzill Lorenzo Scantlebury, who last week claimed he was in morgue, was indeed a patient of the hospital.

James made the admission in a statement on the 5:30 p.m. Starcom Network news yesterday, after an earlier denial that Scantlebury was ever admitted to the QEH.

Scantlebury claimed he ended up in the hospital morgue after suffering an epileptic seizure, but was unclear as to when he was hospitalised and for what period.

In an interview in the last SATURDAY SUN, the 46-year-old car washer, of Whitehall, St Michael, alleged he woke up inside a "dark room" with a big refrigerator with drawers.

"I had just come out of one of the same drawers . . . ," he said.

In that article, Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) communications specialist Katrinah Best said the hospital did not have a Reynzill Scantlebury on record, but did have a record of another man who had died, also a Scantlebury, whose first name was close to his and who had Lorenzo as a middle name.

In yesterday's 12:30 newscast on Starcom Network, James said: "Our records or admissions do not support a Reynzill Lorenzo Scantlebury being admitted to the hospital on, or around the time that was purported to be in the media."

However, yesterday evening, while the hospital CEO admitted that Scantlebury was indeed a patient, he maintained he was never pronounced dead nor ended up in the morgue.

"Our investigation substantiates that Mr Scantlebury has never been pronounced dead, or admitted to the hospital morgue over the eight-week period that has been indicated to us. However, we confirm that Mr Scantlebury was taken to the Accident & Emergency Department (A&E) at 4:57 p.m. on September 20, and was discharged at 4:30 the following day. Furthermore, our records indicate that there has been no death certificate issued for this person," he said.

He called Scantlebury's account of what occurred misinformation fed to the media.

"We are very open on providing information on what we do here at the hospital and all we are asking for is that information be thoroughly investigated, it be factual and the information provided to the public be done in a responsible manner," he said.

Meanwhile, a number of Barbadians have been commenting on Scantlebury's story, including one woman who operates a canteen which he frequents.

"He collapsed on the Sunday. The Task Force and the ambulance were there with him. The Monday when I came into work, they told me 'Bucket' had died. We call him 'Bucket'; he's always with a bucket because he does car washing.

"The Tuesday morning, he turned up. I said: 'Wait, but I hear you dead.' He said: 'I just walked out of the morgue last night.' And he had the tape with his name on it on his arm, on his wrist - the hospital tag they put on you when they admit you to a ward. I saw it on his hand," she said in a report from Starcom Network news.

Another woman, who contacted the DAILY NATION yesterday after hearing James' initial denial, said that Scantlebury was admitted to hospital. She said she saw him in the A&E on October 23 and 24, when she took her grandson for medical help.

"He was in either room 11 or room 12 in A&E. I was two doors from him with the little boy. I know him because I live up there in Eden Lodge, St Michael [near Whitehall]. It ain't no lie; he was in the hospital but I don't know if he was in the morgue," she said.

Another woman, Clarissa Thompson, told the DAILY NATION she overheard Scantlebury relating his story to a cashier in the Mia Mart supermarket in Green Hill, St Michael, last month.

"That was the first time I heard it. I was at the register and when he came through the door, and the cashier said: 'Wait, but all of we out here thought you did dead.'

"He turned and said: 'Well, I thought I was dead too.' So we laughed."

Eastlyn Scantlebury, mother of the "dead man", who lives in Rock Gap, Spooner's Hill, St Michael, told the DAILY NATION, yesterday:

"I don't think my son would make up something like that. I was surprised he even talked about it. I hear the hospital denying it, but you can't fight the Government anyway.

"And you're a poor person? You're going to fight against them?"