GEORGE NEWS - A young mother is suing the George Hospital for a few million rand after her baby boy was born with cerebral palsy, allegedly as a result of negligence on the part of doctors and nurses during the delivery seven years ago.

The boy, Leshaan, cannot speak or walk. The mother, Lezine Heunis, from Parkdene, was 18 at the time of the birth. She was already in labour when she was admitted at 02:00 on 1 January 2006. It was only after she was in severe distress for nearly 48 hours that doctors finally did a caesarean, according to Sunelle van Heerden, a professional consultant with Pretoria-based medical malpractice law firm CP van Zyl Attorneys, who is handling her case.

"By that time her baby had suffered brain damage as a result of oxygen deprivation."
Heunis told the George Herald that it was a terrible ordeal. "I was in severe pain and this lasted for two days while I was in labour. I was afraid that my baby and I would die. I could not understand why they did not do anything despite my pleas for help."

She only found out that Leshaan was partially paralysed when, at 11 months of age, he could not sit up. She and her son live with her mother, Venolia Heunis, who assists in taking care of the boy when his mother is at work. In the mornings, he goes to the Optima Day Care Centre in Pacaltsdorp.

Another mother complained to the George Herald claiming she allegedly had a similar experience at George Hospital last month. Elizabeth Matthews says labour had to be induced when she was 41 weeks pregnant and the doctor said that if the baby was not born within four hours, a caesarean would be carried out. The nurses on duty failed to call the doctor and instead told Matthews to push through with a normal birth. She describes how she was in extreme agony while the nurses were allegedly laughing and making fun of the situation. At one stage, one of the staff apparently used her fists to push down hard on Matthews' stomach several times, bruising her.

It was already past midnight when a trainee doctor was called who immediately wanted to do a C-section, but a sister overruled him and suggested he use a vacuum extractor, alleges Matthews.

"It was in vain and they eventually resorted to a caesarean. My husband, who had been alongside my bed for the birth, had left the room during the ordeal as he could not stand it any longer. After birth, our baby had to be rushed to the ICU as no oxygen could reach his brain. His head was slightly deformed due to the sucking, but this has returned to normal and he seems fine now," says Matthews.
Nadia Ferreira, spokesperson for the Western Cape Government Health, says the department apologises for Matthews' traumatic experience and that a "thorough" investigation into the complaint is being undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team.
Ferreira says they cannot presently comment on Heunis' claim against the hospital.

According to Van Heerden, a summons will be issued against the hospital soon, after which a court date will be fixed.

Comments
A Sapa report published on the George Herald website regarding Heunis' claim sparked varied comments on the newspaper's Facebook page. Odette Fish, a patient of the same hospital says she had labour pains for more than 60 hours before labour was induced.

"Every time I went in they sent me back home and all I got was 'come when your water breaks'." Eventually, after two efforts at induction and her unborn baby's heart stopping for a while with every contraction, an emergency C-section was carried out, which revealed that the navel cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. Several other women comment that they had negative delivery experiences there, whereas two were very impressed with the service they received.

* 'n Ma van 'n seuntjie wat serebrale verlamming tydens geboorte opgedoen het, dagvaar die George-hospitaal vir 'n paar miljoen rand omdat sy toestand na bewering deur nalatigheid van die hospitaalpersoneel veroorsaak is. Nog 'n ma het intussen na vore gekom en gekla oor die behandeling wat sy tydens haar kind se geboorte ontvang het en talle ander ma's het op die George Herald Facebook-blad ook negatiewe kommentaar gelewer.


Elizabeth Matthews and Rhuben.

ARTICLE: ALIDA DE BEER, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST

Read the Sapa report here.

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