AGD says no conflict in managing Jodian Fearon’s estate

The Administrator General’s Department (AGD) says it does not perceive any conflict in overseeing the estate of Jodian Fearon, the young mother who died after being denied treatment at several hospitals in the Corporate Area five years ago.

The response comes amid concerns raised that possible lawsuits may be brought against the Jamaican State over her death.

It also follows concerns raised by her family that there had been “legal silence” over the matter.

In an emailed response to a Gleaner query, the department said that Administrator General Staci-Ann Carty has control of Fearon’s estate and is charged with “investigating, collecting assets, and distributing the residue after liabilities are paid”.

The department said this includes all assets reported, those unearthed during its investigations, and any claim pertaining to her death.

It noted that the AGD “is mandated by law to administer the estates of persons who die intestate leaving minor beneficiaries. and as such, the estate of Jodian Fearon fits within the purview of the Administrator General’s Department and no conflict will arise,” it said.

Fearon, 23, died in the intensive care unit of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) after giving birth to her daughter, Peyton-Grace, at the Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine.

The young mother, who was suspected to have contracted COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic in April 2020, was reportedly denied treatment at Andrews Memorial Hospital (AMH), where she was registered to deliver her baby.

The private hospital said it was not equipped to treat Fearon for the infectious virus, which tests later revealed she did not have. She was asthmatic and exhibiting symptoms of fever and coughing at the time.

In April, Fearon’s mother, Portia Haughton, said the family had been unable to get closure five years after her tragic death.

Haughton said a case related to her daughter’s death remains open at the AGD but admitted that she was in the dark about its status.

Further, she said her efforts to get information had been futile, noting that there had been radio silence on the matter.

“We’re just in the dark,” Haughton said, disclosing that attorney-at-law Isat Buchanan, who was retained by the family to represent Fearon’s estate, was “removed” from the matter, which the AGD took over.

She called the reported absence of information “a grand silence”.

The AGD told The Gleaner that Fearon’s affairs had been assigned to a case officer.

“The estate of Jodian Fearon, as with all other estates, is assigned to a case officer, who is supervised by a case attorney. The estate is actively being administered, and periodic updates are provided to beneficiaries,” the department said.

Buchanan, who was the initial attorney on the case for the family, insisted that Fearon’s death was as a result of “medical negligence”.

He explained that because a child is involved, the administrator general has full control over any benefit that would come from a civil suit filed for negligence.

He further noted that the child – whose custody is currently being contested by Haughton and the child’s father, Kenton Senior – would be the main beneficiary of any successful legal outcome.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com