Child dies at GJ Crookes Hospital
A nurse palpated for a pulse and noticed that the child wasn't breathing.
GJ CROOKES Hospital in Scottburgh has come under fire again after the death of a 22-month-old toddler on January 13.
This after another controversy reported recently in the Mid South Coast Mail about another mother being horrified at the treatment received at the hospital, and the cats wandering around in the wards.
In the latest incident, little Sonika Dhanny was taken to hospital by her mother, Olivia, in the early hours of a Wednesday morning with a chest infection and breathing problems.
Mrs Dhanny told the Mail her child was only attended to by a ‘student nurse’. In spite of the mother’s panic, the nurse left them alone for about 20 minutes. When she returned, she said she was not sure the monitor was working and asked Mrs Dhanny if her baby was asleep.
Mrs Dhanny said they then called a senior nurse who was passing and she confirmed that Sonika was dead. The case is now being investigated by Detective Warrant Officer Salomie Pillay of the Scottburgh SAPS Detective Service.
A statement from GJ Crookes Hospital read: “The ‘student nurse’ is actually a Community Service Professional Nurse.
On January 13 at 5.15am whilst busy with the night report, the nurse was approached by a mother carrying her baby and accompanied by the grandmother. They stated that the baby had shallow breathing. The baby was taken to a cot bed to be examined.
She palpated for a pulse and the nurse noticed that the baby wasn’t breathing. There was no pulse.
According to the mother, she stated that her private doctor had said that it was normal for the baby to stop breathing for a few minutes and start again.
Although this was deemed to be unlikely, the nurse still connected the baby to an oxygen saturation monitor, but in vain. A senior professional nurse, who was busy at the stitching room with another patient, was called. She confirmed that there was no sign of life and the baby’s face appeared to be blue.
The nurses explained to the mother that the baby was still not breathing. However, the mother still insisted that the baby was alive and proceeded to carry the baby not wanting to put her down, instead she wanted to take the baby home.
She was told that it was illegal to do so as certification needed to be done by a hospital doctor.
The hospital doctor was then contacted and Scottburgh SAPS was informed that the child was dead on arrival.
The SAPS came at 6am. Then a gentlemen came into casualty and examined the baby without saying anything to the nurses present, but only spoke to the family privately. He never asked for permission to examine the baby. The nurses assumed that he was a private family doctor. At around 6.30am the forensics came to take the body away.”
