Durban - A couple whose child was born with Down syndrome was awarded R6.6 million in damages from the provincial government and eThekwini Municipality in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday - because they would have terminated the pregnancy had they known there was a problem.
The court ordered that the KZN premier’s office pay R4.4m, as it controlled Addington Hospital where the woman gave birth, while eThekwini Municipality had to pay R2.2m because it was in charge of the Clare Estate clinic where she was monitored through her pregnancy and where they failed to tell her there was a problem.
On Monday, the mother, who gave birth in 2002, said
it had been a “financially difficult” 10 years.
“
We have not been able to get the best care and treatment for our daughter,” she said.
The greatest challenge they faced was not being able to get their child into mainstream crèches and schools.
“We were shut out, there was a lack of understanding from schools,” she said.
Before the pregnancy, the woman had been actively involved in her husband’s business but after the birth her work was limited as she had to care for her special needs child
.
In August 2009, the couple won the first leg of the legal battle when Judge Phillip Levinsohn ruled that the premier and the municipality were liable to pay damages.
His decision was taken to the Supreme Court of Appeal, but the case was later dismissed.
According to court papers, the woman fell pregnant in 2002 when she was 36. At the time, she had a family history of diabetes and high blood pressure and was a “high-risk patient”.
Although she visited the clinic many times, she was not told that anything might be wrong with the baby.
She was later referred to the hospital and the first indication she had that the baby had Down syndrome was in late October when she was almost full term.
On November 16, she gave birth.
Judge Levinsohn said in his judgment at the time:
“Stripped to bare essentials, her case is that the medical professionals charged with the duty of monitoring her pregnancy breached their obligations in various respects.”
They had failed to test early in her pregnancy if the foetus was normal
. All the expert witnesses who had testified were in agreement that the woman was a high-risk patient.
Her age alone flagged that her pregnancy ought to have been monitored at a higher level.
The Mercury