Family members of shooting victim Steven Buckley, 38, of George Street in Belize City, visited the Kremandala compound this morning to update Amandala and KREM Radio on their loved one’s condition.
Buckley was shot, according to police, once in the right side of his face (though eyewitnesses say two shots were fired) on Wednesday night, April 28, on Kraal Road after the vehicle he was traveling in was stopped by a team of police officers who was looking for a similar vehicle used in a shooting earlier on.
Since then he has been in critical condition at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) in Belize City on a ventilator (breathing machine).
Today, Monday, he was taken off that machine and is now breathing on his own. According to his common-law wife of 10 years, Juanita Juarez, he can move his left side and his eyes are open, but he cannot respond when his visitors talk to him.
There was concern that the shotgun blast may have damaged one of his eyes, we were told, but this evening we were made to understand that this is not so and that the bullet apparently missed the eye.
Also, Buckley urgently needs five pints of blood, of either O-negative or A-negative type, to replace what he has lost.
According to the family, the Police Department is yet to speak at all to them, and reports to them are that the Department says it cannot assist with medical expenses for Buckley until the outcome of their investigation is known.
Police Press Officer Sergeant Fitzroy Yearwood advised Amandala this morning when we contacted him that the family should personally see him to find out the status of that matter, and declined to state the Department’s official position until that meeting takes place.
The family believes, naturally, that the police should take responsibility for what happened to the construction worker and father of two, and have visited Ombudsman Cynthia Pitts to ventilate the matter.
Amandala understands that they are also seeking legal advice on possible civil action against the Department.
The Buckley family verbally gave their consent to Amandala to have us take Buckely’s photo at the KHMH around 11:00 this morning, but we ran into a stone wall when the KHMH’s public relations consultant Brenda Stewart (the KHMH currently has no public relations officer after the departure of Gary Ayuso a few weeks ago) cited a little-known provision of the hospital’s media policy—a policy unenforced previously—in denying Amandala access to the Private Ward/ Intensive Care Unit.
According to Stewart, patients who have had their photos taken and aired across local media while in the hospital have expressed discontent with hospital staff/management. For the KHMH, she told us this morning, it is a matter of ensuring patient privacy and confidentiality.
In Buckley’s case, she added, while his condition has improved, he was “incoherent” and “unable to speak for himself” on the matter of publicity.
Ordinarily, the family would have had to sign a consent form for us to gain access, which they were willing to do. But Stewart said the policy would not even allow press cameras into the ward, and when we asked if the policy would be enforced with other media houses and in particular those who have thrived from heretofore uninterrupted access, Stewart said that it would. This remains to be seen, however.
Nonetheless, Amandala was able to get a most recent photo of Buckley from a family member.
We were unable to reach KHMH Chief of Staff Dr. Bernard Bulwer today to get a better understanding of the rights of the patient and his family in matters such as these.
We are also told that media houses will no longer be allowed access to the morgue area during post-mortems, but will have to interview family members of the deceased in the lobby of the hospital.
Amandala has raised its concerns that this matter was never discussed with the full press corps, and has asked for a copy of the hospital’s media policy and an opportunity to discuss the matter more fully; on both accounts Ms. Stewart has agreed.