Who served Fitzgerald Jeffrey?

ON THE NIGHT of May 26, 2008, when he rose to speak in Parliament for the first time, Fitzgerald Jeffrey was undaunted by the late hour.

“I thank my constituents who voted for me in the last general election, thus giving me the opportunity not to be served, but to serve them,” the PNM La Brea MP told the House.

Five years later, Mr Jeffrey was inspecting mangroves in his constituency after an oil spill when he breathed in what he later deemed to be toxic fumes. About five years after that, he developed symptoms and was later diagnosed with a serious, progressive lung condition.

Mr Jeffrey, 69, died this month.

We may never know with complete certainty, but Mr Jeffrey always linked his illness to the very service to which he had so staunchly committed himself.

In interviews, he pointed to the use of the dispersant chemical Corexit 9500 during the 2013 oil spill, which originated at state facilities. Oil fumes are known to be toxic and Corexit 9500 is believed by some to be carcinogenic.

What is clear, however, is Mr Jeffrey’s dedication. At various points, he was a teacher, a vice-principal, a principal, an MP, a minister of state and a high commissioner.

Even after his condition worsened, he represented TT at a meeting of the International Seabed Authority in 2018.

Mr Jeffrey had sought the public’s help to raise US$1 million for a lung transplant.

It was a reversal of the norm. Elected officials often access medical care at the State’s expense while in office, but conditions apply.

Adding salt to the wound are reports relating to how Mr Jeffrey’s loved ones were informed of his death.

By one account, Mr Jeffrey’s wife Julia was driving to see her husband when a nurse told her over the phone: “I hope you are walking with his identification card (ID) so I could finish making up his death certificate.”

Worse, when they arrived at the Point Fortin Area Hospital, relatives were not properly counselled as to the circumstances and instead told, “We closing up, yes. I feel like a blood clot may have shifted or something.”

The South West Regional Health Authority has launched a probe, but these reports have the ring of the familiar.

Also recognisable is the account given by Mr Jeffrey’s daughter Tehilla of medication not being administered properly to her father.

“I urge all people going into the medical field, if you are not passionate about what you want to do, don’t do it,” Ms Jeffrey wrote on social media.

It is a sentiment shared by many at the mercy of an uneven healthcare system.

We often accuse politicians of being self-serving.

But who was serving Fitzgerald Jeffrey in his final days?