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When Shauna-Kay Forsyphe had her son, that was the happiest moment of her life.

And the joy continued for three years, until May 14, when baby Zantae Betty got ill.

His father, Quesly Betty said on that morning, Zantae developed a fever and they took him to a private doctor, after which he was referred to the Princess Margaret Hospital in St Thomas.

There, Zantae received some medication and they went home. However, the following day, the baby vomited a brown substance and some blood that frightened the family.

"When we went to the hospital, they ran some tests on him and said that the brown substance he was vomiting may be caused by his spoilt teeth because it may have caused an infection. After they saw him, we got a prescription, we fill it and go home," said Betty.

Zantae's third birthday was a day later, on Thursday, May 16. But things worsened on the following day.

"Friday we see him a blow (breathe) short and we rushed him to the doctor. They put him on IV. The way him weak all him could a say is 'ouch'. When we finally get to see the doctor, he said they were going to admit him because his platelets are low and it is not supposed to be so low," he said.

Chest pains

Zantae was admitted to the children's ward at Princess Margaret late Friday night. Betty said that on Saturday morning, Zantae was still crying about chest pains, and shortness of breath, prompting more checks.

"Friday night they asked us to sign a paper so that he could get blood, which they said they called the Bustamate Hospital (for Children) and asked for. When mi see him the Saturday morning all him do is hug up me hand and lie down," he said sighing. Baby Zantae died soon after.

Betty said that he is very disappointed in the way the hospital dealt with the matter.

"The day he died, they (the hospital) said they were going to do an autopsy and I said that we, the family, wanted to do it and they said no, but we could have our doctor on standby. After three weeks, we find out seh all now they didn't send in the application to do the autopsy and he died on the 18th of May. They called us in the morning on the 19th of June and said that the autopsy will be done on the 20th, we said ok. In the evening they called us back and said the hospital nah worry proceed with the autopsy so we can come and take the body. We went for the body and did our autopsy," he said

From the autopsy, Betty said they discovered that Zantae suffered from a high fever which caused dehydration; the dehydration caused his intestines to swell, causing the vomiting and some amount of bleeding.

He said that the hospital refuses to take responsibility for what the family believes was negligence and that rather than compensation, the family would rather an apology.

When THE STAR spoke with the hospital's acting CEO, Melecia Linton, she said that the hospital is aware of the incident in question and they are doing an investigation.

However, Linton said that the hospital couldn't accept anything that the family is alleging until an investigation is complete.

Forsyphe, who said that Zantae was her first child, has not been coping well.

"I was excited to have him and then this happened. I just want them to apologise. Mi nuh really want no one else go through what I am going through right now," she said.