A Pretoria doctor on Monday pleaded not guilty to a charge of culpable homicide related to the death of a patient of his after a liposuction operation.
Dr Jan van Almenkerk, 62, denied that Petronella Christina Susanna Jansen van Rensburg died on May 12 2002 due to negligence on his part.
In his plea explanation he said he was a qualified general practitioner who was also trained and experienced in performing liposuction.
He said on May 11 that year Jansen van Rensburg went to him for such an operation. He had informed her about the procedure and possible complications and after-care.
'According to him the operation was successful' According to him the operation was successful.
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He admitted that Jansen van Rensburg's daughter had phoned him the following day to say that her mother was in pain.
"It was normal. I prescribed more painkillers and said the patient should take lots of fluid," his statement read.
When the daughter phoned him for the third time, saying her mother was confused, Van Almenkerk told her to take the patient to his consultation room in Hatfield.
"Only two hours later did I find the daughter and patient at the Pretoria East Hospital where the patient was taken to ICU and later died," the doctor stated.
'My mother kept on complaining of pain' He said the patient was not correctly diagnosed and treated at the hospital.
Franalyn Hofman testified that her mother went home the day after the operation. When she visited her mother the following day, her face, hands and feet were swollen, she was in extreme pain and could not urinate.
"I phoned the doctor. He said it was normal. But my mother kept on complaining of pain," Hofman said.
When her mother collapsed after a shower, Hofman again phoned Van Almenkerk.
The witness quoted him as saying: "You are bothering me. How old are you?"
The doctor then allegedly said Hofman should take her mother for blood tests, but Hofman said she would rather take her mother to him.
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