Dr. Frank ‘recovering very nicely’

Former Cayman Islands government minister Frank McField was said to be “recovering very nicely” following surgery Friday evening at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital to treat a bullet wound in his right leg.

Mr. McField’s wife, Christiane, was by his hospital bed on Saturday. Mrs. McField said her husband’s leg fracture appeared to have been successfully repaired by doctors.

“If no complications are happening, it should heal properly,” Mrs. McField said. “From what I saw today [Saturday], it’s very encouraging.”

Mrs. McField said doctors did not know how long her husband, a former Cabinet member and radio talk show host, would have to remain at the Florida hospital. She said he would have to undergo some physiotherapy.

“They told us up to two weeks; I hope not,” she said.

Rumours have been swirling around Cayman since Mr. McField was shot in the early morning hours Thursday and was driven to the hospital in a private car.

Royal Cayman Islands Police Service officials have said next to nothing about what occurred and it was unknown what statements, if any, Mr. McField had given to police prior to his departure for Miami’s Jackson Memorial.

“The injured man [referring to Mr. McField] was dropped off at the hospital by someone in a black car, possibly a Toyota Supra,” a statement from the department read. “Police are appealing for the driver of the car, or anyone who saw that car in the area, to come forward.

“Detectives have been interviewing the victim since his admission to hospital [Thursday] morning. However, at this stage the circumstances around what happened, and where, are not clear.”

Police refused to comment on or clarify reports from the public that the shooting had occurred outside a George Town bar or that Mr. McField had been shot more than once, although a news release referred to him sustaining “wounds”.

Mrs. McField could add nothing further.

“We’ve heard quite a lot of speculation,” she said. “I’m not able to make any comments because I have to be with Dr. Frank.”

Mrs. McField was in Grand Cayman early Thursday when the shooting occurred and said she hasn’t had much of a chance to think things over in the wake of the incident.

“I have a son with him of course, and his well-being was as much on my mind as Frank’s,” Mrs. McField said. “There [are] so many things that go through a mommy’s mind when something like this happens.

“I feel like I’m under a cloth … you put yourself in a vacuum and deal with the thinking later.”