Liberia: Family Doubt Relative Committed Suicide at JFK Hospital; Says the Management “Is Being Deceitful”

Monrovia – The family of the late Dennis Koon, who was recently pronounced dead by the John F. Kennedy Medical Hospital, as a result of suicide due to trauma, has spoken out terming the information provided by the hospital as “deceit to the public”.

The deceased patient, Dennis Koon, 43, jumped through his window on the third floor of the hospital building. According to reports, he was escaping his accumulated bill at the hospital.

The Chief Medical Officer of JFK, Dr. Jerry Brown told journalists that the deceased had jumped from the 3rd-floor bathroom after he left the hospital ward hosting him.

According to him, he accumulated huge bills at the hospital and was abandoned by his family who could not clear the bill. This, according to Dr. Brown was brought to the attention of the social welfare department of the hospital which went through all the necessary procedures to have him cleared.

Dr. Brown said the deceased was set to be released from the hospital when the incident happened.

His statements were corroborated by Theresa Nimley, a relative of the deceased who also told reporters at the same press conference that the deceased was often abandoned by his family and she believed that caused the trauma that led to him committing suicide.

But the son of the deceased, Orlando Koon, said on the contrary, his father was never abandoned by family and friends as stated by JFK Management.

He said it was unfair that JFK Management would go for someone who is not a member of the late Koon family, nor a sister to make up a story, only to cover up the real story surrounding his father’s death.

He stated that when they engaged the hospital following the incident, the JFK management failed to give them any information about the death of his father, but chose to use someone who is not related to them and failed to call them.

He said the JFK management did not even call them to inform them of the death of his father.

The son of the deceased said it was shocking to hear that his father passed when his mother had just left JFK Hospital, where the management refused to allow them to take him home due to their inability to settle the huge bill.

“JFK management stopped us from taking our father home and said we should pay the money before taking him home; we went to look for the money when we heard the news,” he said.

He said the bill summed up to US$250 and they paid US$200 and had a balance of US$50 which the hospital demanded to settle before he can be discharged.

He said, that following the hospital’s refusal, they immediately went back home to find a way of getting money or to seek assistance, so that they can clear the remaining bill.

According to him, the assertion made by the Management of JFK that they informed the family that his balance fees were paid is untrue.

The widow of the late Dennis Koon, Rebecca Koon, also condemned JFK’s assertion that her late husband died as a result of trauma from abandonment.

She is calling for an in-depth investigation into what she termed as the mysterious death of her husband, stating that his death was not caused by reasons stated by JFK Management.

She said JFK Management was very deceitful to the public by bringing “someone who is not a relative to Koon”, but rather a community member who went with them on two occasions to the hospital.

She bemoaned that all of the late Koon’s medications were handled by her, as well as feeding, to include some payment of the medical bill, and was the one whose name was enlisted as first contact.

FrontPageAfrica also gathered from inside sources from JFK that Mr. Koon’s corpse

was lying on the ground in the rain for several hours before students at the TNIMA noticed him and signaled the authorities.