The late Mrs Johanna Elizabeth Van Der Mescht (70) died in the hospital on 23 March after a stay of about two weeks.

Her husband, Andre, says he is devastated at her death and feels it could have been prevented. The story of their marriage sounds almost like something from a movie. They were initially married in 1990 but later parted ways, although they never divorced. However, they found each other again and were inseparable from 2017 until his wife died. Their love story was even featured in a magazine.

Unfortunately, his wife became HIV positive while they were apart; she lived on antiretrovirals for the past 25 years. Although they spared her life, the drugs from government clinics also caused kidney damage.

“Most people do not know this; they don’t warn the patients and do not do regular tests for it. It is only when a patient’s kidneys have been badly damaged that the government supplies more expensive antiretrovirals that do not damage their kidneys,” says Van der Mescht.

The severe kidney damage caused his wife’s condition to deteriorate, and she developed various health problems over the past few months. Through his love and dedication, Van der Mescht researched extensively and treated her symptoms as they arose. As a result, he took her out of Carletonville Hospital after she was admitted earlier this year.

“They gave her about two days to live, but I kept her alive for two months. She would still be alive today if they had given her the care she needed,” he says.

Van der Mescht took his wife back to Carletonville Hospital because of severe anaemia on 17 March. “Despite my wife being elderly, extremely frail and ill and in critical condition, she was not considered a priority. They left her without an examination and a running drip for several hours,” he says.

His wife, who was admitted to the TB ward, was not transferred to another hospital when her condition worsened from fluid build-up, among other things. Despite not being able to give her the intensive attention she needed, hospital staff refused to allow Van der Mescht to care for his wife himself.

“The hospital did not even know that my wife had entered the last phase of the death cycle on 22 March. I found her dying in Ward 5 by chance after meeting with the CEO that morning. The hospital negligently reported that she had died on 23 March 2023, resulting in me travelling up and down at my own expense to try and rectify this gross error. The hospital stated that she had died of natural causes, so I could not open a criminal case of negligence, abuse or premeditated murder. It also prevented me from requesting basic pathological and post-mortem tests free of charge,” Van der Mescht further laments.
Although Carletonville Hospital staff held a redress meeting with Mr Van der Mescht on Thursday, 13 April, he was dissatisfied with their response.

“They did not accept any responsibility. They only hold these meetings so that family members can talk their hearts out, but it does not lead to any improvements,” Van der Mescht complained.

Although Carletonville Hospital’s spokesperson, Mr Matabo Letsoalo, promised a response from the hospital, it did not arrive by print time.