Dalzell – ‘Bert could have been alive today’

Hannah Dalzell, mother of deceased prisoner Alberto ‘Bert’ Dalzell, is of the view that if prison officials had been more concerned about her son’s health, he might have been alive today.{{more}}

“Bert woulda been alive today if them been carry him ah doctor when he been bawling fo belly pain…,” Dalzell said in a telephone interview with SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday, November 30.

A medical certificate revealed that the 27-year-old South Rivers resident died as a result of pulmonary thromboembolism due to or as a cause of deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

DVT is a blockage of the main artery to the lung, caused by a blood clot.

Symptoms of this include difficulty or rapid breathing, chest pains, and a rapid heart beat, with severe cases leading to abnormally low blood pressure, collapse and sudden death.

Dalzell, who was on a murder charge, died on November 25, 2011, at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, following complaints of pains in his stomach.

Dalzell said she visited her son several times at the prison and he complained that prison officials did not take him to seek medical attention after nearly three weeks of complaining.

A senior prison official indicated to SEARCHLIGHT last week that the deceased was taken to the hospital on November 18, after taking ill. The prison official also indicated that Dalzell was taken to the hospital to see the doctor again on November 25. He died at the hospital.

However, Dalzell is not buying that story. She is adamant that more could have been done. “Bert always ah bawl fo he belly. I go there plenty times and ask if them carry him to the doctor and he keep telling me no…Ah more than three weeks he dey down there sick yo know,” Dalzell said.

Expressing difficulty in believing that her son is dead, Dalzell said she is trying to take it easy and preparing to see her son’s face for the last time, as he would be laid to rest this Sunday at the South Rivers Baptist Church.

Dalzell was set to stand before a judge and jury in the High Court at the present sitting of the Criminal Assizes to answer to the murder of Ian Williams on August 28, 2010.