Durban - A 19-year-old Umbilo woman, who gave birth with the help of an inexperienced student midwife at King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban, says that if it were not for her internet research on childbirth, her baby may not have survived.
Daniella Engelbrecht and her 33-year-old husband, Ben, said they were furious at the way hospital staff treated them during the birth of their son, Domenic, three weeks ago. They described the conditions in the labour ward as filthy.
Engelbrecht said her experience had put her off having another baby. She said she was refused painkillers, while patients around her received them. She was left with a student nurse who she said told her to push the baby out when there were no contractions, and slapped her when she didn’t comply. Engelbrecht was also left alone to clean up the afterbirth.
“When I had to give birth, I told them that the baby’s head was going to come out any moment and they said ‘impossible because you are only 2cm dilated’,” Daniella said. She said the midwife had then examined her and told a student midwife to help her give birth.
“She didn’t even look at the baby. She just stood by my head and told me to push. I learnt on the internet that you don’t push when you don’t have contractions, but if I didn’t push she slapped me on my leg.
“When his head came out, I checked for the cord to make sure it wasn’t wrapped around his neck and then his shoulders came out and I took him and put him on my chest,” Daniella said.
“All (the student nurse) did was cut the cord and clamp it. They took the baby away and left in the afterbirth. They didn’t clean it up. I used the plastic sheets and folded it up and threw it away.”
Daniella said the student nurse had returned after what seemed like an hour and given her “about 17 stitches”, because she had torn severely during the birth. However, a doctor later ordered the student to remove the stitches, which had not been done correctly.
Daniella said her internet research on her cellphone during pregnancy had “helped me a lot because if I hadn’t done that, I don’t know how I would have delivered that baby”.
Daniella added that she had been shocked by the conditions in the showers, which were dirty and so bloodied that the grouting between the white tiles was red.
She said nurses had refused to give her food or a glass of water during her overnight stay, telling her: “This is not a hotel, it’s a hospital.”
Ben, who had been desperately trying to get access to his wife and newborn baby during the early hours of the morning, said he didn’t know whether they were dead or alive because he could not get hold of her on her cellphone and security guards would not let him into the hospital.
He said Daniella had called him at 12.04am to tell him the baby was about to arrive, but when he called the ward three hours later, he was told she was “still in theatre”.
Distressed, not knowing what had happened, he arrived at the hospital at 5am only to be turned away by security.
“When I phoned the ward and I asked: ‘Is she alive?’ they told me to come during visiting hours. And do you know who told me my baby was born? The security guard,” Ben said. The guard sent someone into the ward with a slip of paper with his wife’s name to find out if the baby had been born.
Ben said he was also angry that the paediatrician had discharged the baby in his presence, allegedly without examining the child.
Ben said it was unacceptable that the hospital would not allow fathers to be with their wives during labour.
“They don’t want witnesses to see how they are treating the patients because a lot of the people who go to King Edward don’t have money and they know, what’s the chances of them going to see a lawyer? We are lucky my child is alive. Maybe someone else won’t be so lucky. How long must this go on?”
The couple are considering suing the hospital. They have also raised the question of why the hospital does not allow expectant mothers to have the baby’s father present during the birth.
King Edward VIII Hospital spokeswoman, Nontobeko Ndlela, said in response to questions from the Daily News last week that the hospital had asked the UKZN School of Nursing and Public Health to launch an investigation into the complaint.
The Engelbrechts said they could not lodge a complaint with the SA Nursing Council because the nurses were apparently not wearing name badges.
Ndlela said the hospital had called upon the university to investigate the complaint because it wanted “a neutral body” to probe the matter. She added that hospital management would also set up a meeting with the Engelbrechts to hear their complaint and explain what action would be taken.
Daily News