Alwyn Kleynhans was to become a proud father to his new-born baby soon, but that changed in a matter of hours. This after his eight-months pregnant wife was admitted to Leratong Hospital with severe cramps.
Kleynhans recalled feeling their unborn baby kicking the night before his wife, Martonette, had to be rushed to hospital on 26 October at around 10am.
“You tell that little baby it’s too young to kick daddy’s butt,” he said to his wife the previous night.
Hours later Kleynhans received the message that the sonar the doctor had taken revealed their unborn baby had died in his wife’s womb.
During Martonette’s pregnancy the couple consulted a doctor at a Potchefstroom hospital who gave them a letter of referral. It stated she required a Caesarean section and a hysterectomy as she has had six miscarriages in the past and a natural birth would be too complicated and hard on her body.
Kleynhans claimed the doctor at Leratong simply ignored this letter and insisted he would do what was best for his patient.
After the baby was declared dead, his wife was told she would have to give birth to their dead baby naturally.
“The doctor said he could not perform a Caesarean, and insisted she gave birth to our dead baby,” he explained.
Martonette remains in hospital and is awaiting further care. However, Kleynhans informed the News that his wife started bleeding due to a suspected placenta rupture. She also is waiting to undergo a dilation-and-curettage procedure (scrape), but according to Kleynhans the doctor is insisting that Martonette has a sonar to indicate where the blood is coming from.
Kleynhans believes the death of his unborn baby is due to negligence by hospital staff. He has been advised to open a case at the police after hospital management refused to help him lay a formal complaint.
The News contacted the hospital’s communications department for urgent comment.
Spokesperson Fikile Oyekanmi responded with the following: “The allegations made are taken in serious light and an investigation is underway. Due to the nature of the complaint, the outcome will be confined to the patient concerned as we have an obligation to uphold confidentiality”.
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