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By Noor-Jehan Yoro Badat
A six-month-old baby went into a West Rand hospital to be treated for an ear infection, only to be discharged almost a month later nearly blind, and deaf in one ear.
Now a Honeydew couple are suing the Life Wilgeheuwel Hospital, claiming one of its nurses acted negligently while treating their baby.
The hospital says an investigation is under way.
'Eventually I screamed that Laila was not breathing' Speaking exclusively to The Star, Kogie, 38, and Rodney Subramoney, 40, said they took their baby to the hospital to be treated for a severe ear infection. The child was admitted, and over a period of several days was given an intravenous antibiotic, Rocephin, through a drip and had grommets inserted.
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The baby was discharged and the parents were told to bring her back to the paediatric ward on October 2 for the final dose of the antibiotic. It was then that things went wrong, said Kogie, a human resources manager.
The couple say they told the nurse treating Laila that her drip cord was filled with blood, but she ignored their concerns. Instead, the nurse "returned with a syringe and flushed the drip without first removing the bandage and examining Laila's hand", said Kogie.
She claims she also told the nurse "there was a bubble in the syringe". Again, the nurse didn't acknowledge her concern.
Rodney, a banker, was holding Laila on his lap when the nurse began administering the antibiotic. Laila began to cry hysterically, Kogie said.
'She cannot eat properly' Three times, she said, she and her husband asked the nurse to stop the procedure because Laila was "crying profusely, appeared to be choking and was not taking in any air".
But the nurse continued, said Kogie.
"Eventually I screamed that Laila was not breathing. The nurse finally stopped," she said.
Then, she alleged, the nurse took Laila from Rodney and "walked casually across to the procedure room with her on her hip".
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