23-Year-Old Dies Hours after He Was Released from WRH
Edin Requeña
A Santa Elena man is alleging that Western Regional Hospital didn’t properly treat his brother for injuries he sustained in a road traffic accident. According to Ruben Garcia, his brother was in an RTA that involved a heavy machine and he was trapped inside his truck. He was later rescued, after which he and his passenger were taken to the hospital. But tonight Garcia says Edin Requeña may have spent less than three hours at the hospital and even though he complained that he wasn’t feeling well, the medical doctor chalked up his injuries as ‘scratches and bruises’ and released him. About two hours later, he was dead. Reporter Andrea Polanco went west today to speak to the grieving brother about what happened. Here’s the story:
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Did health staff at the Western Regional Hospital dismiss road accident victim twenty-three-year-old Edin Requeña’s complaints of pains hours before he died? That’s what Requeña’s brother Ruben Garcia says happened on Monday evening when he was discharged from the hospital just hours after he met in a road traffic accident. Around two o’clock on Monday, Requeña was driving this truck with his friend Manuel Guerra in the passenger seat, when the truck collided into heavy equipment that was travelling on the highway at mile sixty on the George Price Highway in Unitedville. The brunt of the impact was on the driver’s side – and it trapped Requeña in the vehicle. He was allegedly extracted by firefighters. Both men were rushed to the Western Regional Hospital in Belmopan. That’s where Ruben Garcia met his brother around four o’clock that evening.
Ruben Garcia, Brother of deceased
“When I got there, he looked all weak and the first thing he asked for was some water and there was a nurse there and she said no you can’t give him water. About three minutes later a doctor came in and I asked him if I can give him some water and he said, yes, sure you can give him some water and take him too. So, then, I asked him like twice, ‘are you sure I can take him home?’ and he said, ‘yes, he is just a little scratched up and some bruises.’ But he couldn’t walk, he came out complaining that he feel like his leg was broken and the doctor said no he doesn’t have anything.”
Garcia left the hospital with his injured brother and headed home to Santa Elena Town. During the ride, Requena kept complaining about a pain in his leg and by the time he arrived home just after six he was unable to walk and had to be carried inside the house. Shortly after Requeña predicted his death, he was a dead man by the time he was taken to the San Ignacio Community Hospital around eight ‘clock.
Ruben Garcia
Ruben Garcia
“He said he wanted to sleep and when I put him in the hammock, he told he that he feel that he was gonna die tonight. I had some family there and we tried to put him back in the car and took him to the San Ignacio Hospital. By the time we took him there and when we reached there he was already dead. The doctor took like ten to fifteen minutes to come out and check on him.”
We’ll know the cause of Requeña’s death until a post mortem is done – but for Ruben Garcia – he feels that his brother didn’t have to die the way he did. He strongly believes that his brother was released too early from the hospital without proper observation after his accident. Garcia says there was negligence on the part of the team that treated and released him.
Ruben Garcia
“He didn’t have big bruises but the biggest one was like on his abdomen. I guess he was probably hurt inside, not on the outside.”
Andrea Polanco
“Now, when he was at hospital, do you know what kind of tests they did on him?”
Ruben Garcia
“Well, that’s what I was wondering because I went there and the doctor didn’t give me no papers or nothing. He just tell me that he is good. He is only bruised. I even asked him if I needed to buy any medication for him and he told me, ‘no, no, he is good; the other one is more hurt than him.’ But the other one is still alive and he didn’t get no medication, nothing.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, you haven’t seen x-ray; ultrasound; none of that?”
Ruben Garcia
“Nothing from him; nothing from him. The doctor didn’t give me any paper to sign any paper that he is leaving or anything like that; nothing; nothing.”
Andrea Polanco
“Do you believe he was discharged too early from that hospital?”
Ruben Garcia, Brother of deceased
“Yes. I do. I believe they were supposed to keep him for at least twenty-four hours in there so that they can see if something – maybe if he was kept there for a little bit longer maybe something could have been done.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, would you say there was negligence there on the part of that hospital and the people who took care of him?”
Ruben Garcia
“Yes. Yes, there was, yes. I think they needed a little more attendance and they didn’t do what they had to do because he was probably damaged in the inside and not the outside.”
Requeña was a carpenter in Santa Elena. He is Garcia’s only brother. Their father is in Guatemala and unable to enter the country because the borders remain closed. Garcia says the way his brother died has hit him hard – difficult to describe in words.
Ruben Garcia
“[Silent]….We were the closest brothers, yes. We would see each other every day; we work together; do things together; ride bike together. I wish I could get my dad to come over this side.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
