‘He died like a dog on the airport floor’

WESTERN BUREAU:

The family of a 71-year-old man who passed away last Wednesday after falling and hitting his head at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, is voicing frustration with how the authorities managed the tragic incident, even as the investigation is ongoing.

Leroy Smith, a Westmoreland native who lived in Orlando, Florida, had visited the island for the funeral of a relative and was in the process of checking in for his return flight when he died.

An alleged witness, Celia Foster, recounted the unfolding tragedy in a video that has been widely circulated. She said that she was checking in to board the same JetBlue flight Smith was booked on when she saw him fall to the ground.

Foster said she rushed to his assistance and was quickly joined by a JetBlue staffer.

She recalled that an airport official later came to scene, but was seemingly more interested to find out who would pay the US$400 to transport Smith to a hospital by private ambulance instead of rendering immediate assistance as he bled from a wound to the head.

“It took about 20 minutes to half an hour before a lone nurse came, … [who] said she was checking his oxygen [level]. In the meantime, I took out his phone and was searching the phone to see if I could find a number to call a relative,” said Foster.

She said that while dialling a number found in Smith's phone, they were joined by an apparent airport worker wearing a vest. The man, she said,”was telling us to tell the person on the phone that the single ambulance at the Cornwall Regional Hospital is not available, and that to call a private ambulance, the person would have to approve the payment of US$400”.

By then, Foster said that more than half an hour had elapsed, and it was clear that Smith was struggling to breathe.

Watched helplessly

She said that she offered to pay for a taxi to take Smith to the hospital, but her offer was rejected by the airport official, who cited “protocol”.

In what Foster described as one of the most painful experiences of her life, she said she watched helplessly as Smith took his last breath.

“I saw the man gap (gasp) … . I never see somebody gap – or what they call it, catch breath – in my entire life. The man was gapping … . The man stayed right there on the floor and died. The man died on the floor,” said Foster, who broke down in tears at the recollection.

“My God, because people got to talk about getting approval to call an ambulance? Look how many people travel in the airport daily ... and we don't have nothing in place for things like this. This could happen to anybody; it could happen to me,” she added.

When contacted on Friday, airport spokesperson Sharon Hislop-Holt said she was aware of the video and asked The Sunday Gleaner to call her again after midday to discuss the incident. However, instead of offering an opportunity to ask questions, she issued a news release.

She said that when staff were alerted to a passenger in medical distress, the airport's “emergency response protocols were immediately activated, with on-site medical personnel arriving within minutes to provide care”.

“During this time, an ambulance was also called to the scene. Despite the best efforts of our on-site medical team, we regret to inform that the passenger sadly passed away,” the statement read in part.

“Sangster International Airport maintains a dedicated private healthcare provider, employing trained and certified medical practitioners stationed on-site to ensure rapid response to medical emergencies. This arrangement allows us to provide immediate professional medical assistance to passengers and staff. Our contracted healthcare provider also supplies ambulance services to the airport,” the statement added.

However, one of Smith's relatives has dismissed Hislop-Holt's statement, saying that having viewed Foster's video and listened to the sequence of events she outlined, he believes she accurately captured the incident.

“It is a disgrace that they allowed him to die like a dog on the airport floor because no one was there to approve US$400 for a private ambulance,” said the relative, who did not want to be identified.

“Big Cornwall Regional Hospital only have one ambulance and the airport is not equipped to handle emergencies, … so this is what Jamaica gone to?” he said.

Services significantly scaled down

Services at the Cornwall Regional Hospital have significantly scaled down following a noxious fumes issue in 2018. Since then, despite billions of dollars spent on rehabilitation, normalcy has not returned to the institution as staff and patients struggle under atrocious conditions, including seriously ill patients sleeping on chairs.

With Cornwall Regional Hospital the only Type A hospital in the County of Cornwall, stakeholders in the west regularly express fears that should there be a medical emergency at the Sangster International Airport or the Historic Falmouth cruise shipping pier, the inadequacy of the island's health services could prove to be a major embarrassment.

Smith's relative indicated that a lawsuit could be on the cards as he is convinced that had the airport been operating in accordance with acceptable international standards, Smith would have survived the injury.

In a July 25 travel advisory, the US State Department urged United States citizens planning to visit Jamaica to reconsider the decision, citing crime and health concerns.

“US citizens should not expect the same level of healthcare available in Jamaica as is available in the United States. This includes generally lower levels of emergency service response times or routine care for illness or injury. Private hospitals require payment upfront before admitting patients and may not have the ability to provide specialized care. Ambulance services are not always staffed with EMTs or always readily available, especially in rural areas. US citizens should bring extra prescription medication as common medications such as insulin can be difficult to obtain,” the advisory stated.

It encouraged Americans to secure traveller's insurance, including medical evacuation insurance, before visiting the island, noting that most hospitals and doctors overseas do not accept US health insurance. Air ambulance service to the United States can range from US$30,000 to US$50,000, it added.

Last week's incident is the third widely publicised medical issue calling the airport's protocols into question.

In December 2022, a passenger fell ill inflight to Montego Bay, but there was no reportedly emergency medical practitioner immediately available on landing.

“It took 20 minutes for the local nurse to come, and there's no ambulance that has come as yet to take the guy off or even a stretcher,” one passenger said at the time. “I was giving somebody the play-by-play on WhatsApp and the first message was sent at 1:12 p.m. as we were taxiing to the gate, [but] the nurse – and I'm genuinely not sure if she is one – didn't come on until 1:37 p.m.”

According to him, the paramedics arrived 15 minutes later, causing him to conclude that there was no ambulance service at the airport.

In January of this year, an American dentist reportedly had a mental episode and undressed herself in the airport's lobby. She fought back as police officers and airport employees tried to subdue her. She was later fined $50,000 or 20 days in jail for resisting arrest, $1,000 or five days in jail for indecent exposure, and $1,000 or five days in jail for disorderly conduct.

editorial@gleanerjm.com