Four years ago, Athina Alexandrakis lost her mother after what she claimed had been malpractice by doctors.
Now her remaining parent's life is in the balance after he was allegedly overdosed with morphine at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and not given the appropriate treatment because the relevant doctor was away at a seminar and there was no one to stand in.
Alexandrakis is demanding that the hospital pay her elderly father Vassilios's private hospital bills after she was forced to discharge him and seek help elsewhere as he urgently needed a hip replacement.
The family's nightmare started in 2005, when their matriarch died. After Alexandrakis's own inquiry with the help of lawyers, she said it was revealed that Athina Snr had been transfused with another patient's blood at a private clinic.
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| 'My father was in unbearable pain' |
Last month, Vassilios, 88, fell on his face and broke his hip. His daughters, Athina and Maria, took him to Charlotte Maxeke as he had no medical aid. They arrived at the hospital around 5pm. He was bleeding from his face and forehead.
Nurses, who didn't bother to treat his wounds, eventually admitted him at 1am.
"My father was in unbearable pain, but the nursing staff ignored us. They are lazy, unprofessional and just seemed uncaring and unqualified," said Alexandrakis.
The following day, when she visited her father, she noticed that no doctor had come by to give the family an update on his condition. He was on medication, but no further tests or assessments were conducted.
"I was at the ward for most of the day and the nurses were loafing around, laughing and watching television. And my father seemed drugged."
| '... nurses were loafing around, laughing and watching television' |
On the Monday, the staff were frank: her father was not going to be attended to. The chief of the orthopaedic ward, Dr Richard Kyte, was away at a seminar until the middle of October, they told her. They couldn't do anything to help him until the doctor returned.
"I left the hospital in the afternoon, and when I came back at 6pm, I went through my father's file. I found another patient's file mingled in between. This person had been stabbed and had serious injuries. but had already been discharged. This is gross negligence on the part of the staff."
Nurses also gave Alexandrakis a mouthful about visiting hours. "They told me to leave, like I was an intruder."
On September 29 she tried to find out who Kyte's substitute was, but an official told her there was no one. Frustrated and angry, she tried to call hospital CEO Dr Mfenyana. But he too was unavailable.
"My father's hip was getting worse. When I arrived that day, he was again sedated. But he was awake long enough to tell me the nurses had administered something - he didn't know what it was. Later a junior consultant told me my father needed a hip replacement urgently - but he would have to wait until October 12.
The family couldn't wait. Maria had to borrow money so Vassilios could get the care he needed at another hospital.
"On the day he was discharged, I found a piece of paper next to his bed. It was the discharge form, which clearly stated that my father had been overdosed with morphine."
The Saturday Star has a copy of the discharge letter.
Alexandrakis added that when paramedics arrived to transfer her father, the student doctors "forgot" to check her father's blood flow and pulse on the leg. When paramedics checked, there wasn't a pulse and he had to receive treatment immediately.
"The paramedics asked for my father's records with his X-rays in it. The nurses refused to hand them over, but they demanded that we give back the hospital gown. When we left ward 396, the nurses went into a hysterical fit of laughter - in front of paramedics and other patients," she said.
Although Vassilios had a hip replacement soon after being admitted to Rand Clinic, he is still suffering from the side effects of the morphine. He has hallucinations and breathing problems.
Alexandrakis holds the hospital responsible for her dad's medical bills, and has written to Mfenyana detailing the family's "horrific" experience.
Mfenyana promised there would be an investigation.
- This article was originally published on page 7 of The Star on October 10, 2009
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