Pretoria - A teenager on suicide watch at the Kalafong Hospital, west of Pretoria, has obtained an urgent court order to be removed to a psychiatric hospital.
She says she is at the end of her tether with a fellow patient who gets into bed with her at night - naked.
“I am afraid if the lady gets into bed with me again tonight and fondles me, there will be no one to safeguard me,” the teenager said in court papers.
According to her, the “lady” wandered around and tried to take her belongings.
“I was so afraid of her that I told her I would share my belongings with her. She then told me 'I will kill you'. Security (at the hospital) told me to just ignore her.”
The Pretoria teenager, 19, said she landed in hospital after she overdosed on pain medication and iron tablets. She was devastated after her boyfriend broke up with her on Women’s Day.
After overdosing, her mother rushed her to the emergency unit of the hospital.
“My parents were told by the nurses to wake me every time I fell asleep due to my low blood pressure.”
The teenager said that after her parents left, she was woken up by a woman who came to her bed and tampered with her drip. According to the teenager, the woman, who is usually naked, had paid her several visits.
The teenager said she told the doctors and nurses that she wanted to be moved to Denmar clinic, but they said that as she is in a psychiatric ward, under suicide watch, they could not discharge her without a court order.
“I have no choice but to turn to the court,” the teen said.
The hospital did not offer its side of the story, but the court gave it until October 4 to file an opposing affidavit.
Pretoria News