Family set to sue clinic over death

A Bolobedu family, whose sick mother died after doctors allegedly failed to attend to her seven days after her admission, is at odds with Tzaneen Mediclinic in Limpopo.

Now, the family is threatening to take legal action against the hospital and the doctor, claiming there was negligence.

The Citizen understands a closed-door meeting between the family and management yon Monday did not yield any positive results.

“We have nothing against the doctor or the hospital, hence we brought our mother there,” said Molema Mokgwapa’s daughter, Melita.

“But we have to take action because if not, more lives will be lost in this clinic. We believed this clinic hires only professional staff, who take their work very seriously.

“But little did we know we were dicing with the life of my mother.

“All we want is for the clinic to tell us what actions they are taking against those who were assigned to administer to my mother, how far are they willing to go to comfort the family and how far their investigations are.”

Clinic general manager Zane Fanie said: “We are currently still investigating the matter. We held a meeting this morning with the family and I am glad we are on the same page.

“Our problem at the moment is the very same doctor the family is accusing is sick after testing positive for Covid-19.

“We, however, are waiting for him to recuperate for him so he can give us his side of the story. We will take action, pending the outcome of the investigation.”

Mokgwapa, 78, of Ga-Kgapane in Bolobedu near Modjadjiskloof, was admitted to Tzaneen Mediclinic on 3 January with Covid-19 related symptoms.

But she told her children that she had not been seen or attended to by the doctor since she was admitted.

The patient claimed that all she had got at the clinic was a daily injection, which the nurses administered.

According to the family, Mokgwapa’s last plea before she died was to see the doctor urgently because the injection had made her body swollen and caused her excruciating pain.

“From the hospital bed, she called and told us her stomach was protruding and that she suspected the injection.

“She said nurses at the clinic were giving her an injection every day and asked that we call the doctor to check on her,” said Mokgwapa’s other daughter, Pauline.

“We had to drive from Johannesburg, where we work, to Modjadjiskloof, where the doctor has a surgery.

“But to our dismay, when we got there we were shocked to find out that the doctor did not remember our mother, nor which ward she was admitted to.

“Worse, the doctor was confusing my mother with other patients, claiming that she was diabetic. We forced him to go to the clinic but got the shock of our lives.

“Instead of going to her ward, he went to the wrong ward and checked on the wrong patient.

“When he came back to the waiting room, he said my mother’s condition was serious and that she needed more insulin in her body. We were shocked to the bone because our mother had just told us that the doctor had not come to the ward.

“We then directed him to the ward where my mom was. While in there, the doctor quickly called the family and told
us to give her our last hugs, saying she would not make it,” the family claimed in a statement.

“He said that blood clots had spread across her lungs and that there was absolutely nothing he could do to save her.

“Sadly, three days later, we got a call from the clinic to say that my mother had passed on,” Pauline said.

– news@citizen.co.za

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