Couple blames Witbank Provincial Hospital for the death of their son

A 23-year-old mother blames Witbank Provincial Hospital for the death of her son after not being attended to for about eight hours.

The woman lives with her 35-year-old partner at Leeuwpoort plot. On Thursday, August 31 the woman went to bed and everything was fine, she was woken up by pains around 19:30. She did not read too much into the situation until she saw she was bleeding. At that time she was six months pregnant with her son. The couple rushed to Witbank Hospital and the woman was admitted to Ward 5 around 20:30.

“My pregnancy was not a difficult one at all. All along I was fine, health wise, I was surprised to have bled like that,” explained the woman.

The woman alleged that she did not receive help from the staff since she was admitted.

“I was still bleeding and all the Sister did was to change my sheets and leave,” explained the woman.

One of the Sister’s apparently cursed her and said none of this would be happening if she was in school instead of being pregnant at a very young age.

On Friday around 12:30 her husband went to check on his wife and found that her situation was still the same and nothing had been done by the staff.

At 02:30 the Doctor and Sister came by and all they did was insert a drip and left shortly after that.

“That Friday I was seven months pregnant. Around 04:30 I felt as if my baby was ready to come out so I pushed. When I gave birth I heard him make a sound and soon after that he kept quiet,” explained the mother.

A woman (23) lost her baby boy at Witbank Provincial Hospital last month. She alleges the loss of her child was due to the staff’s negligence.

That is when women in the same ward as her screamed for help and the Sister came. The Sister saw the baby and told the woman the infant was dead.

The father expressed his disappointment with the manner in which the hospital handled the matter.

“I am very disappointed in their service. I feel the whole situation is the Hospital’s fault as at the time my wife was admitted the baby was fine and she felt our baby kicking and playing. It was only after he was born that he passed on,” said the father as he was holding back tears.

The father said that all this would not have happened if it was not for the negligence of the Doctor and Sister. Their child could have been alive.

“I was already in pain and the Sister made it worse when she said I must take the baby, put it him the box, got to the police station and write an affidavit and bury him. I do not know what she meant but the words she said about us burying our boy inside a box really hurt me,” said the distraught mother.

The little boy was laid to rest on Monday, September 11 at Kromdraai cemetery.

“When my son died, I felt like dying with him. We have a three year old boy and he keeps asking us why is mommy’s stomach not big anymore. What happened to his sibling?” sighed the father.

The death of their infant caused the couple to have regrets of going to Witbank Hospital as the father stated that their first son was born at home after the Nurses at a different hospital wanted to perform a C-Section instead of his wife giving birth naturally.

The couple took the matter further by taking a formal letter of complaint to the hospital on Friday, September 8; the letter was received and signed by one of the staff members who wrote down her name acknowledging receipt of the letter.

On Tuesday morning, September 12 the father received a call from the hospital asking which ward his wife was admitted to, after that there were no further answers given to the couple about the incident. In the letter the couple requested the hospital respond to them within three working days which has not taken place. Weeks later and the couple said they have not heard anything from the hospital.

“The staff did not do their jobs. We lost someone who could have been a phenomenal person and impacted the community in a big way,” said the father with a sobbing heart.

For this reason the family wants to be compensated for their loss.
Witbank Hospital CEO’s office was contacted and the woman who answered the phone said the CEO was in a meeting and will return the phone call as soon as she is free.

Mpumalanga Department of Health Media Liaison Officer Mr Christopher Nobela responded to the query by requesting the file number in order to investigate the matter further but he too did not provide answers by the time of going to print.