Mom’s delivery room nightmare
Cut while giving birth, woman was wheeled to mortuary while still alive
A MOTHER died at the Lower Umfolozi War Memorial Hospital after being operated on following the birth of her daughter.
Worse still, she had reportedly been taken to the mortuary – six days before she had died.
The family of Sandile Mthethwa (28) is still in disbelief after their daughter went to the hospital a fortnight ago to give birth, and she never came back home.
Distraught mother, Zandile Mthethwa said, ‘After giving birth through a C-section, Sandile and the baby remained at the hospital for observation.
‘On the fifth day after the op, Sandile told me she and her baby were ready to be discharged, so on Saturday, 14 May I went to the hospital to fetch them.
‘On my arrival at the hospital I found Sandile was in ICU in a coma.
‘I was told the doctor who had operated on her at first, had discovered there was and leak in her intestines, which had happened during the C-section process.
‘Therefore they had taken her back to theatre to fix the leakage.
‘Instead of finding my daughter and her baby ready to go home, I found her helplessly lying in an ICU bed, blue all over her body.
‘And her wound where she had been operated on was left gaping,’ the mother said.
The family also allege they were told by a security guard that instead of being taken straight to ICU after theatre, her daughter was first wheeled into the mortuary.
However, the doctors decided to take her to ICU, where she lay comatose for six days, until her mother was told there was nothing the doctors could do to revive her.
Responding to the Zululand Observer’s query, Lower Umfolozi War Memorial Regional Hospital spokesperson Khethiwe Dlamini said, ‘The hospital will call the relatives and arrange a meeting with them to address the matter as this entails patient confidential records.
‘The hospital has a functional and effective complaints management procedure and we urge our health care users to utilise it as soon as they feel their rights have been violated, to address any dissatisfaction.’
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