Couple allege their twins died at Baragwanath Hospital due to negligence
The hospital says the mother gave birth to premature babies, who were not fully developed and alleged that the doctors tried all they could to save the babies.
It doesn’t matter how it occurs, losing a newborn baby is a traumatic bereavement even if the pregnancy was short, losing double ‘the bundle of joy’, twins is even more traumatic. A Soweto young couple, Portia Makoa and Sihle Thabethe alleged that their twins died at the Baragwanath Hospital due to negligence.
The couple is seeking accountability following the death of their 26-weeks premature twins in July, one of them had died after birth and the other was immediately taken to Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Makoa who told Soweto Urban that relating the story over and over again is emotionally draining but took us through what she alleged had transpired.
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“I went to Bara because I had unbearable pains, early contractions, and on arrival, I was not given the attention I think my case required, even worse, I was given interns to help me give birth to my twins, while the senior doctor who was supposed to be helping me was busy eating.
“One of the interns couldn’t even read from the scan that I was carrying twins, I had to assist by saying that I was carrying twins,” Makoa said.
“After giving birth, I was told that one of the twins had subsequently died and the one who survived was being taken to ICU and I was discharged and taken for counseling. When I returned to see my surviving twin, she was nowhere to be found and they couldn’t provide records of what exactly transpired, said Makoa.
The couple, accompanied by the family said that they were devastated, by the situation already, so the fact that the other baby was nowhere to be found was just making things worse.
“I was then assisted by a matron, who went through the reports and found a document that confirms that my other baby could not survive. But I wasn’t even informed, the document was just filed without my signature, I became even more devastated. They then claimed that they tried contacting us with no luck. At that point I was even beginning to doubt if those were really my twins,” she said.
The family requested DNA tests, they were done and Makoa said they came back 99,9%. However, the couple still wants answers as to what had transpired, for them to get some closure. We had tried to speak to the father, Sihle, but he was too hurt to even say a word.
We reached out to the hospital to get their side of the story and this is what they had to say. “Condolences to the family we note all the concerns raised by the family. We, however, wish to put matters into perspective, the mother gave birth to premature babies, who were not fully developed, the doctors tried all they could to save the babies.
“The Health personnel are graduated doctors,” said Baragwanath Hospital spokesperson, Nkosiyethu Mazibuko.
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