Speaker to write to Government and Opposition Leaders regarding House Rules!

The SLMDA’s recent election of Dr. Merle Clarke, to replace Dr. Alphonsus St. Rose as president, was barely covered by the media. But the matter was sufficiently significant to warrant heated exchanges during last Wednesday’s Appropriations Bill debate, triggered by Castries Southeast MP Mr. Guy Joseph. The fireworks started with an assertion by the Dennery North MP Shawn Edward, who attempted to revive an unsubstantiated tale about the government being responsible for the death of St. Jude patient Curtis Marius last August, when St. Rose was still the St. Lucia Medical and Dental Association’s main man and a consistent critic of the Chastanet administration.

The Castries Southeast MP’s response: “The member for Dennery North touched on a very sore point this morning,” he said, “imputing that a patient had died at the renal unit as a result of the hospital not being fully operational.”

Edward quickly jumped up from his chair in defence mode: “I did not attribute blame to any hospital. What I said was that subsequent to the young man’s passing, the president of the Medical Association came out publicly and stated that it could have been as a result of the support services not being available that the patient succumbed.”

At the Speaker’s urging, Joseph rephrased his own statement: “The member for Dennery North seemed to be suggesting a doctor had insinuated the patient died because of inadequate hospital facilities. But that’s just one doctor’s opinon. The doctor who was in charge of the unit, who is herself a professional, came out and offered a contrary opinion. The member for Dennery North, if he wanted to be fair to the discussion, could have given the points of view of both doctors.”

This was the second opinion of the other doctor, a consultant nephrologist at OK-EU at the time: “I disagree with the SLMDA’s stance on this particular issue. Even if the patient had crashed ten feet from an Emergency Room, this is what you had to do: get a flat surface and start CPR. So I disagree completely with the notion that the patient passed just because we don’t have an Emergency Room. That is false categorically!”

Joseph shed further light on another tragic incident. “Less than a month after that,”he said, “somebody died in the office of the then president. Was it negligence? Was it inadequate facilities in the doctor’s office?”

The opposition reaction was unusually uproarious. The Castries South MP, Dr. Ernest Hilaire (not a medical practitioner), stood up on a point of order. “You cannot do that,” he said, referencing Guy Joseph’s pointed questions. He slammed his hand down on the table in front of him. “This must not be allowed in the parliament. This is disgraceful behaviour. The member is taking this parliament to the lowest levels and is bringing the parliament into disrepute. We criticize each other, we may challenge each other, but for a member to stand in this honourable house and claim that a doctor out there caused the death of a patient in his office . . . Mr. Speaker we have to draw the line.”

The Speaker was having none of that. When finally he had brought the opposition noise to an acceptable level, he addressed the Castries South MP: “You are using words the member did not. He did not use some of the words you used. Some of the words that you used are much stronger than what the member said. The member asked the question whether there was a possibility something may have happened. He never used the words that you used.”

Another back and forth ensued, this time between Hilaire and the Speaker. The government side cited the earlier remarks of the Dennery North MP, Shawn Edward. A clearly frustrated Speaker, after the din had died down and he could be heard, announced a “critical need” for a review of the House Standing Orders. He said he would be writing to the leaders of both sides of the House on the matter.

Among matters forbidden by the House rules: members may not read their speeches during debates; no personal attacks on members’ reputations; no questioning or commenting on matters in the press; no offensive language in the chamber; no delivering of speeches in a language other than English.

Lately opposition members having been wearing red party stars on their lapels. Will the government follow suit and feature neckties with the UWP flambeau?