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Joseph Kuylen was hospitalized on the 8th of May after experiencing an intestinal rupture. A colostomy was performed and his family says it was left unfinished, which caused a massive infection. Since then Kuylen's health has deteriorated and he was transferred to the Karl Huesner Memorial hospital – where he is presently on a respiratory machine after undergoing 3 other surgeries. Two of his sisters spoke to us – one of them is a licensed intensive care nurse and they told us of the many cautions that were ignored.

Voice of Alva Rosado - Sister of Joseph Kuylen
"He was taken in to Dangriga Hospital by his wife around 9:30 on May 8th and they did an X-ray and found out that he had ruptured something in him and they took him to surgery after 11 and he stayed in surgery till about 2:00. Unfortunately I was not in Dangriga and when I got back in the night around 7 i stopped at the hospital and I stayed there until visiting hours was over with his wife. The following day Thursday night - my brother called me telling me that he doesn't think he will be there when I go to the hospital the following morning and he was calling to say goodbye. Later in the night his wife called and told me that the other doctor in charge, not Dr. Pott that did the surgery - he said that they were going to send him to Belize the following day after Dr. Pott did his round after 8 because Belize had better facilities because his wife asked him if he was dying. That night he had rapid heart rate and they had to call in some of the doctors that deal with that and they massaged him and gave him some medication to bring it down. So I went to the hospital the following morning where they said they were going to send him to Belize only to find that Dr. Pott said that he wasn't aware of it."

Cecilia Parker - Sister of Joseph Kuylen
"When I got to the hospital I noticed that my brother was running a consistent low grade temperature. They got him out of bed and sitting on a chair, nothing else. I ambulated him and walked him. He was very short of breath with walking, they weren't monitoring his oxygen status and I inquired about that. I stayed that entire night and in the morning I asked Dr. Pott if we could have done a chest X-RAY to see if my brother had a little bit of Atelectasis (Collapsed Lungs) which happens post operatively and which would be why he is running a low-grade temp. He told me 'no' and that they would just monitor the temperature and if it continues to go up that we may have to do an ultrasound to see if he has an abscess. Stann Creek doesn't have a good ultrasound machine - he would have to go to Belmopan or Belize City hospital. Then the following day Joseph's wife and myself met with Dr. Pott and I again asked about a chest X-RAY and he said it wasn't necessary that they are just monitoring. The following morning he came again, short of breath again, confused, needed oxygenation, I again then asked 'please let's do a chest X-RAY just to see what's going on with the lung'. He said 'No it's not necessary'. I told him it was to satisfy my curiosity and he can prove me wrong. He said that he wasn't going to do any unnecessary chest X-RAY to satisfy me. My brother's temperature then went to 101.8 and an irregular heart rate because the matron in Stann Creek actually left me a portable pulse ox and I monitored his heart rate and it was very erratic, irregular. I knew he was in atria fib and I spoke to the doctor that was on call for Dr. Pott and when she checked him he had converted to sinus rhythms so she said nothing needs to be done. I again asked about the temperature which was at 101.8 and she said she would give him a Tylenol. I told her 'No' and that at this point we need to know what's causing the temperature and treat it. Immediately we called BERT ambulance and paid for him to come there then I spoke to Dr. Castillo who is the Chief of staff in Stann Creek hospital and he said that he was going to send him to Belize City hospital. Initially the surgery in Dangriga was an exploratory lap meaning they opened his stomach to see what was going on and try to correct it. Because they found a perforation of the intestines, the descending colon they did a colostomy initially on the wrong side of the abdomen because the sigmoid colon comes down on the left side of the abdomen. He should have had a colostomy on the left side of the abdomen and they gave him it on the right side. This might have been why it re-perforated and of course he did not finish the colostomy so the whole procedure was better off not being done really, he would have had a fighting chance if they hadn't done anything and just left him alone and brought him to Belize City hospital."

Tonight Kuylen is critically stable and still on a respirator. His family says he is doing better, but it's still too early to tell.

7news contacted Dr. Peter Allen -CEO in the Ministry if Health who stated that he was verbally informed by Kuylen's family about the situation and is aware of the allegations being made against Doctor Greg Pott. Allen says he has since alerted the Chief of Staff at the Southern Regional Hospital about these allegations and is now awaiting a formal complaint from the family in order to proceed with a formal investigation. He did note that Doctor Pott has the reputation of being an excellent surgeon and stressed that there are two sides to every story. We avail ourselves to get that other side, but we were told by the Ministry that it would speak on behalf of Doctor Pott.