Justice for Jodian

Jodian Fearon was a beautiful, smart, loving and ambitious young lady who graduated from the University of the West Indies in November 2019 at the age of 23 years old with a BSc in Marketing with honours.

She was scheduled to migrate to the United States of America at the end of December 2020 to join her mom along with her baby. However, this dream was robbed on April 24, 2020 where she died suddenly at the University of the West Indies Hospital shortly after giving birth. Jodian would have turned 24 on April 28, 2020.

She was misdiagnosed with Covid 19, which she never had. This was an unfortunate misdiagnosis that ultimately contributed to her death.

On April 23, 2020 a jovial and excited Jodian along with her sister and cousin were documenting by video-recording her process leading up to her giving birth.

They all arrived at the Andrew's Memorial Hospital ( a private hospital) on April 23, 2020 where she was booked for a ' normal birth delivery'. They continued to record her moments while a bubbly Jodian got settled in her room after which she FaceTime her mom on the phone.

However, things became chaotic after a nurse indicated that she was showing symptoms of Covid 19. Jodian's initial diagnosis by her doctor was pregnancy induced-hypertension. 

A recommendation for c-section was made by her doctor, after Jodian's oxygen saturation fell. However, the c-section was not carried out due to concerns of the anesthesiologist.

Hospital administrators of Andrew's Memorial indicated that it cannot accept patients with COVID-like symptoms because it does not have a functional intensive care unit to provide respiratory support in the event a patient’s respiratory condition deteriorates.

Several efforts were made to transfer Jodian to two other hospitals namely, the University of the West Indies Hospital (UWIH) and the Victoria Jubilee Hospital. However, the attempts proved futile. The next day, attempts were made again for transfer which again proved futile. Given her critical state and the fact she was in labour, arrangements were made for transfer to the Spanish Town Hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital, she waited for one hour in the ambulance while in labour as the hospital made preparations.

She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on April 24, 2020 and was then transferred to the Covid ICU ward at UWIH as the Spanish Town hospital indicated they were not equipped to treat with the patient. She later died at UWIH in the night.

The circumstances surrounding Jodian's death at the University of the West Indies Hopsital have not been properly articulated due to ongoing investigations by the police.

However, it was revealed through an independent pathologist retained by the family to observe her autopsy that Jodian was found lifeless on the cold floor of the hospital as indicated by her medical records.

Subsequent to this, the independent pathologist revealed that Jodian died from heart complications and that she had a hole in the heart. The family has revealed that Jodian was known to be a healthy individual with no chronic illnesses. They were shocked to have learnt she had a hole in the heart which was revealed by the autopsy results.

Jodian's family is of the view that as of result of her misdiagnosis , her management of care was compromised. The family is on a quest for TRUTH and #JUSTICEFORJODIAN which they see as JUSTICE for every Jamaican who continues to access the public healthcare system.

The family is also seeking legislative changes which would ensure that this painful situation would never be encountered by another family.

Jodian's family has lauded the efforts of healthcare professionals in Jamaica who continue to give yeoman service to the sector.

Concerned friends with the consent of Jodian's family are now seeking donations to assist with the legal and other related expenses of this terrible tragedy.