QEH: Escape from morgue 'unlikely'

STRINGENT SECURITY MEASURES at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) morgue would have made it improbable for Reynzill Lorenzo Scantlebury to escape in the manner he claimed he did, the institution's management says.

A release sent to media houses by the hospital's communications specialist Katrinah Best stated that chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Dexter James met with staff responsible for the management of the morgue yesterday morning.

"Arising out of these discussions, he reiterated the improbability of Mr Reynzill Lorenzo Scantlebury being able to release himself from the morgue following an alleged pronouncement of death.

"The CEO clarified that there are stringent security arrangements for managing the morgue with the use of closed circuit television," the statement said.

It went on to say that acting director of support services Louise Bobb discussed in "extensive detail" the procedure for managing the morgue which in their view refuted any statements that Mr Scantlebury walked out of the morgue.

This procedure, as outlined by Bobb, is as follows:

* Once the patient is certified dead by the doctor, the body is prepared for transportation to the morgue.

* The chin is secured, the toes are tied together and tagged before being placed in a shroud/zipper bag.

"It would be difficult for someone to break the material [of the shroud/bag]," stated Bobb.

It continued:

* Bodies are placed in the morgue drawer feet first. The height of the drawer measures two feet.

"It would be very difficult to manoeuvre in those quarters, based on the dimensions," Bobb added.

She noted that access to the morgue was controlled by an electronic security system and that no diapers were placed on the deceased taken to the morgue. The hospital, while admitting that Scantlebury was seen in the Accident & Emergency Department on September 20 at 4:57 p.m., maintained that he was not a patient of the hospital because he was not admitted to a ward. They said he was released on September 21 at 4:30.

Scantlebury, 46, a car washer, claimed he woke up in the hospital's morgue after suffering an epileptic seizure.

In an interview in the last SATURDAY SUN, he alleged that he was 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, 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. (MR)