Woman who lost arm to get R3.6m

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Published Apr 20, 2015

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Pretoria - A young woman’s dreams of becoming a chartered accountant one day was shattered when a drip was inserted wrongly into her arm at a State hospital due to the negligence of the nurses and her arm had to be amputated at the elbow as a result.

The 21-year-old is now due to receive R3.6 million in damages from the Gauteng MEC for Health.

She initially claimed more than R18m in damages in the High Court in Pretoria, but Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba ordered that she receive R3.6m.

The mother, who is not being named to protect her as it is suspected that she could be HIV-positive, was completing her Grade 11 studies when she fell pregnant.

She worked part time as a hairdresser at the time to try to fund her studies.

Her dream was after completing Grade 12 to study towards becoming a chartered accountant.

The young woman is now so devastated about losing her arm that she is severely depressed and sits at home, not working or studying.

Her ordeal started when she was rushed to the Odi Hospital in Mabopane, north of Pretoria, on December 31, 2008.

She was bleeding and it was established that she was nine weeks pregnant, but in the process of aborting the foetus.

A surgical procedure was performed to abort the foetus and it was stated in court papers that when she woke up, she found the remains of the unborn child lying between her legs. An intravenous drip was inserted into her left arm.

She complained of pain when it was inserted.

The drip was also leaking. The pain in her arm became unbearable, but she was told by a nursing sister “that is how it is”.

Her hand became so painful that she could no longer move her fingers. Two days after being admitted she realised something was very wrong when her arm started swelling.

The ward sister was again called and she told the woman to simply elevate her arm.

The drip was eventually removed when she started screaming from the pain. By then her fingers were black and she could not move her arm. A sister told her “it will be fine”.

The woman was transferred to the Ga-Rankuwa Hospital, which at first did not want to admit her. Court papers said the doctors there said “the Odi Hospital had made a mistake.”

She was told by doctors at this hospital that her arm would never get better and it had to be amputated.

Her arm became infected after the amputation and she had to undergo a second amputation above the elbow.

Experts stated in court papers that the drip was leaking into the compartment of the forearm, causing pressure on the muscles.

This led to muscle necrosis.

The woman said she was mainly seen by student nurses while in hospital.

According to her the negligence of the staff and their failure to see that the drip was leaking led to her misfortune.

While the hospital issued a blank denial regarding the allegations, the court found it was negligent and had to pay up.

Pretoria News

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