Docs put victim in a comaBy ONIKA JAMES Tuesday, September 22 2009
FORMER diplomat and president of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) Michael Arneaud was placed into a medically induced coma by doctors at West Shore Medical Centre to help him recover from injuries sustained in a boating accident off Monos Island on Saturday, which claimed the life of his wife Sharon.
Arneaud has not yet been told that his wife Sharon, 64, died. Thoracic surgeon Dr Ormond Mendez, his wife Judy and Patrice Pantin, who were also injured, have since been discharged after receiving treatment.
The five were returning to the Arneaud family vacation home on Gasparee Island, in Arneaud’s pleasure boat Sisu at about 7.19 pm on Saturday, after attending weekend mass service on Monos Island, when the boat crashed into some jagged rocks.
Arneaud was rushed to West Shore Medical where he remains warded at the intensive care unit.
However, his wife died while receiving emergency medical treatment at the same institution.
Standing with family members outside the Emergency Care Department at West Shore yesterday, Arneaud’s son Stephen told Newsday that doctors decided to put his father in a medically induced coma.
“Dad’s neurosurgeon, Dr Mahadeo, expects that he will make a slow but full recovery and we are hoping and praying that by Friday or Saturday, dad will be well enough to walk out of here.
My father is unconscious right now, so we are kindly asking persons not to visit at this time,” Stephen said.
However, for most of yesterday, Arneaud’s relatives and closest friends went in and out of the medical facility.
One such person was Roman Catholic Priest Father Jason Gordon who declined to speak to Newsday.
Stephen confirmed that Dr Mendez and his wife, who both arrived in the country recently to witness their grandchild’s participation in a swim meet, were treated and discharged. According to Arneaud’s son the area in which his father was sailing, “was badly lit due to a power outage.”
Stephen added that this power outage may have led to the accident which claimed the life of his mother.
And while Arneaud remained in a coma, a private post mortem was done yesterday which revealed Mrs Arneaud died from massive trauma to the chest and head. The autopsy was conducted at 9 am at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital, at the family’s request.
Mrs Arneaud was thrown violently forward when the boat collided with the rocks. She then crashed into a table.
The autopsy was witnessed by PC John Fitzgerald Kennedy of the Carenage Police Station.
Michael Arneaud last served as Trinidad and Tobago Ambassador to the United States and Mexico, before his retirement.
