Pretoria - The Gauteng Health Department is liable for the multimillion rand in damages claim instituted by a mother after her son, who was born 17 years ago at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, suffered from cerebral palsy.
It was found that the condition was due to the sub-standard care she had received from medical staff at the hospital.
The high court sitting in Johannesburg found that the Gauteng Health Department was 100% liable for whatever damages the mother could prove that she had suffered. The amount of damages payable will be determined at a later stage.
The mother, who cannot be named, so as not to identify her son, told the court that though she was HIV-positive, all was well with her unborn baby throughout her pregnancy.
Her nightmare, however, started after she went to the hospital to deliver her baby. While it was clear the foetus was in distress, she was left alone for hours and nobody cared to inform her what was going on.
When the baby’s head appeared and it was clear he was unable to emerge on his own, the doctor used forceps and other methods to try get the baby out. When this did not work, they rushed the mother to the theatre for a Caesarean.
But it was too late and the baby was born with severe brain damage due to lack of oxygen.
It was only months later when the mom discovered her baby boy did not reach his milestones that she took him to a clinic where she found out his condition.
During one of her regular visits to the antenatal clinic she was diagnosed as being HIV-positive and started on antiretroviral therapy. Apart from this, she was in good health and the pregnancy progressed well.
In June 2005, when she was 39 weeks pregnant, she was admitted to the maternity section of the hospital.
Both mother and unborn baby were health but 24 hours later an emergency Caesarean section was performed because of, and after “no progress during labour”. Two attempts at vacuum extraction failed.
Her baby was delivered by Caesarean which was performed seven hours after the procedure had been booked by the medical and nursing staff.
The mother recalled to the court how her baby did not even cry after he was born.
The mother said that the nursing and medical staff at the hospital were negligent as they failed to assess her labour properly, and even after it was clear that the unborn baby was in distress, she was left for hours on end without anyone assisting her.
The office of the Health MEC denied liability and said the medical and nursing staff of the hospital did not act negligently. It was the case of the health authorities that the child did not sustain an injury while the mother was in labour or during delivery.
Judge Leicester Adams said all things considered and having regard to the evidence led during the trial, the health authorities seemed to accept that the care given to the mother, the management of her labour and the delivery of the child could best be described as sub-standard.
However, it was argued on behalf of the MEC that this did not lead to the baby being born with brain damage.
It was said that there were a number of possible causes of the child’s condition, including the fact that the mother was HIV-positive.
But Judge Adams said: “The standard of care received by the plaintiff was far below par.”
The child now suffers from mixed spastic cerebral palsy and microcephaly with profound intellectual disability.
After the delivery the baby remained in hospital for weeks and she visited him every day.
The doctor told her that the child had suffered brain damage and that he would be slower than other children and that his condition would not change.
She was also told that his head would not grow like other children’s heads and he needed to be cup-fed as he could not suck.
Pretoria News