Baby Ramontay laid to rest as mother demands justice and answers

The tiny casket lowered into the earth last Friday brought an end to weeks of agonising uncertainty for western Jamaica mother Shandale Ballentine, but not the grief that has consumed her since she left the hospital without her newborn son on Good Friday.

Baby Ramontay Rakai Ranger, whose death at the Cornwall Regional Hospital on April 3 sparked national outrage after The Gleaner first highlighted the case, was laid to rest during Child Month, a painful irony not lost on the grieving mother, who says she still struggles daily to accept her loss.

“I’m more relieved now that he’s finally laid to rest. It was a long stretch. I didn’t like having him on ice for so long,” Ballentine said in an emotional interview with The Gleaner.

“It’s not the outcome of the situation that I wanted at all for  my child. Every day I imagine him here at home with me. Every day I sit down and I wonder what I would be doing now, how old he would be, how big he would be. I just imagine what would be happening if he had survived.”

Her voice trembled repeatedly as she described the emotional torment that continues to follow her even after the burial.

“The crying gets a little bit less now, not as often, but I still cry at times. I still break down now and then. I still go through his stuff. I still imagine him wearing certain things,” she said. 

“I don’t know if I’ll ever heal, honestly.”

Ballentine said laying her baby to rest did not provide the closure she had hoped for, as unanswered questions continue to haunt her.

“The doctor had told me that he just needed a little assistance. So I’m wondering, what happened with the oxygen? Did he run out of oxygen? Did they turn off the oxygen? I’m just constantly imagining what could have been done more to save him.”

The mother said the trauma has also taken a physical toll on her health.

“Up to now, my blood pressure is still high. Just thinking about my baby, my blood pressure goes up sometimes,” she disclosed. 

Despite her pain, Ballentine expressed gratitude to relatives, community members and strangers who rallied around her as she struggled to organise the funeral.

Among those she thanked were Lee’s Hardware, which donated materials, and a Hopewell businessman, identified only as Dave, who also assisted with construction supplies.

“I’m really grateful for their help,” she said. “Family members pitched in to help me, and I appreciate everybody who supported me.”

Ballentine told The Gleaner that she hopes her tragedy will force other pregnant women to become more vocal advocates for themselves and their babies while seeking medical care.

“I’m praying that what my situation has done is open the eyes of a lot of mothers, so they will know what to ask for when something is wrong, when to scream out for help, when to say no to the hospital,” she said.

“But I don’t feel like my baby got any justice at all.”

A post-mortem examination conducted on April 28 reportedly found that baby Ramontay died from complications associated with oxygen deprivation during birth. 

The findings reportedly pointed to perinatal asphyxia, a condition in which a newborn is deprived of adequate oxygen during labour or delivery, as well as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, a serious brain injury caused by reduced oxygen and blood flow to the brain. 

The autopsy also reportedly referenced fetal dystocia, a difficult or obstructed labour that can complicate delivery and place a baby under distress.

The case drew widespread public attention after Ballentine, a high-risk expectant mother, alleged that she was repeatedly ignored by medical personnel at the Cornwall Regional Hospital and was afforded a single nurse but no doctor during labour on Good Friday, despite raising concerns that something was seemingly wrong with her baby. 

She later claimed that after eventually delivering the child, doctors informed her that baby Ramontay required oxygen assistance, but he subsequently died. 

Her account ignited outrage across social media and prompted calls for accountability within the public health system.

Following The Gleaner’s publication of the story last month, the Western Regional Health Authority confirmed that an internal investigation had been launched.

Ballentine, who has since retained an attorney, said there has been no update on the status of the investigation. 

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com