Gynaecologist Dr Danie van der Walt was found guilty of culpable homicide.
Magistrate Merlene Greyvenstein found that a patient died due to the negligence of the doctor because he left her bleeding excessively for several hours after giving birth. Emotions ran high on Wednesday, September 21 when Greyvenstein’s words echoed through the courtroom as a murmur and then excitement broke loose when Greyvenstein found Dr Van der Walt guilty.
He was ordered to hand in his travelling documents and be in court on November 10 for sentencing.
For Ms Buyiselwa Maditjane this was all she needed to close a chapter after 11 years of tears, fighting for justice and watching her granddaughter growing up without her mother.
Lisakanya Daweti’s mom, Pamela died on August 12, 2005. She never had the opportunity to hold her baby, to breastfeed her, watch her take her first steps and see what a beautiful young girl she has turned into. Maditjane however will always make sure that her daughter’s memory will never be forgotten and as she looks at Lisakanya she is reminded of the fateful day when her daughter died only hours after giving birth to her first baby.
23-year old Pamela suffered cardiac arrest while in the Intensive Care Unit in Life Cosmos Hospital shortly after she gave birth to Lisakanya back in 2005.
Greyvenstein took all the evidence presented to the court and fine combed it to base her decision on.
In her judgement she highlighted that the state only called three witnesses, Maditjane, Sr Karien Coughlan and gynaecologist Dr Mokete Titus.
Dr Danie van der Walt was found guilty of culpable homicide on September 21.
She found that Maditjane’s recollection of that fateful day is relevant and that her assertion can be proven by the autopsy report and photo’s taken during the autopsy that shows a tear between her vagina and her anus.
However Greyvenstein dismissed the allegations that Dr Van der Walt was drunk as she could not find evidence to carry this allegation made by Maditjane.
As Greyvenstein read Maditjane’s statement, you could hear the grieving mother’s sobs as she relived the horrible night.
Maditjane said during their last visit to the doctor on August 8, the doctor said the family could prepare for August 15 and he mentioned that the baby’s head was in the right position and suggested a caesarean, but the expectant mother wanted a natural birth.
Maditjane further testified that Dr Van der Walt then changed the due date to August 11 and said he was going to induce Pamela. She said Pamela however insisted in giving birth naturally. Pamela was admitted at 18:00.
“At 20:00 Pamela was about five centimetres dilated and I was assured that both Pam and the baby were doing well, and that she was going to deliver naturally. Just after we were given that feedback, Dr Van der Walt came in, and he was under the influence,” Maditjane said.
She told the court that she was shocked by the way the doctor delivered her granddaughter at about 23:30.
“The doctor came in and threw his jacket on the floor. The nurses had to pick up his jacket up from the floor. He wanted to do a caesarean,” Maditjane testified.
“At 22:40 Pamela was already nine centimetres dilated and we were told she would deliver naturally. The doctor came back at approximately 23:00 and said to Pamela ‘You want a natural baby; I will give you a natural baby’. He then put his hand in Pamela’s vagina and pushed it very rough in all directions…”
Maditjane then explained how Dr Van der Walt used suction cups and forceps to pull the baby out,
“He took the right hand forceps and started digging in a very rough manner.”
When Pamela started vomiting after the delivery, Maditjane got concerned and called her pastor to come and pray. She claimed the doctor did not listen to her pleas to help Pamela after she vomited.
After the long night she went home to freshen up, only to be called at 06:00 to be told Pamela had died.
“What kind of doctor phones a mother from his house and says your daughter is dead which mortuary must we take her to?” is the question that keeps on playing in Maditjane’s mind.
Then Dr Titus’ evidence came under the spotlight.
“Dr Titus’ expertise cannot be disputed. Still his opinion was not based on logical reasoning and therefore cannot be accepted,” Greyvenstein said and she referred to several statements made by Dr Titus which literature verification contradicts.
Sr Coughlan, who works in the intensive care unit of Life Cosmos Hospital, previously told the court that Pamela bled like an open tap. She said she counted 20 linen savers that they had to change as a result of the bleeding. She also said they used more linen savers to pack around Pamela to try and absorb the blood.
Sr Coughlan said she had no idea where the blood came from and was surprised when Dr Van der Walt left the hospital without taking the patient to theatre to try and establish why she was bleeding excessively. She said when Dr Van der Walt returned later he looked worried and anxious. She also found it strange that the doctor did a heart massage on Pamela on his own when she went into cardiac arrest, because of this strenuous manoeuvre they usually make turns doing a heart massage.
Greyvenstein found Sr Coughlan’s evidence honest and reliable.
“A reasonable doctor would not have left a patient to bleed out, but would have taken the patient to a theatre to establish what caused the bleeding,” Greyvenstein said when she read from Sr Coughlan’s evidence.
In a previous court appearance Advocate Salie Joubert said the three state witnesses have failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that his client is guilty.
Taking a closer look at the autopsy report Dr Xolo Kanta’s opinion was that Pamela died of natural causes. But he was not summonsed to come and testify about his findings.
That is one of the reasons why Greyvenstein also found that the report by Dr Xola is not based on logical reasoning.
Van der Walt used his right to remain silent. In his arguments, state prosecutor Francois Brand said the suspect failed to take the stand and dispute the evidence given by the witnesses.
You could hear a pin drop after Greyvenstein said she attached little value to Dr Van der Walt’s plea explanation he gave at the beginning of the trial.
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