Assaulted for taking pics of ill mom

2009/11/25.The exterior of the new Mamelodi hospital.Picture: Masi Losi

2009/11/25.The exterior of the new Mamelodi hospital.Picture: Masi Losi

Published Sep 16, 2014

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Pretoria - When Pierre Steyn took pictures of his sick mother at Mamelodi Hospital – after finding her unattended to more than 15 hours after he left her there – he was assaulted by security guards.

They grabbed his phone to delete the pictures, and then ejected him from the hospital grounds and told him never to come back.

Hospital staff, including nurses, told Steyn he had no right to take pictures of his 66-year-old mother Gesina Pearson.

She was being prepared for a check-up, after only getting medical attention on Monday morning, almost 15 hours after he had left her at the hospital on Sunday afternoon.

“I was assaulted after trying to take the photo, I was also told I am not allowed on the premises again,” her worried son said.

When he left her at the hospital’s emergency section at about 4pm on Sunday, Pearson was weak and dehydrated from vomiting and not being able to eat.

She had been discharged from the same hospital on Friday morning, with a handful of anti-nausea drugs she had been using, without success, for 12 weeks already.

Pearson was hit by an extreme case of nausea and vomiting three months ago. She had been to Steve Biko Hospital and a private doctor – in vain – to find the cause and a cure.

Doctors admitted her to Mamelodi Hospital last Monday and booked her for a gastroscopy, schedule for Thursday. “It was cancelled and she went back home Friday.”

The usually self-sufficient pensioner lives alone on a smallholding in Boshoff, not too far from her son and his family. She had been walking with the aid of a walking frame because of a hip problem. “In the past few weeks she hasn’t been able to hold herself up on the frame, so she’s been using a wheelchair.”

In the 12 weeks since her illness, Pearson has not had a proper meal, only managing a few sips of water at a time. “She cannot keep anything down, and anything more than a sip at a time comes back violently.”

Visits to his mother during her stay in hospital last week were not easy, he said. The family had to hold the drip when she was moved from one section to another, and had to help hold the weak woman up during X-rays and scans. They were frustrated when she came back home last Friday without additional treatment, and when the vomiting continued non-stop they were forced to take her back.

“They asked us to leave when we tried to sit with her while she waited for a doctor or treatment,” said Steyn. His mother had spent the whole night waiting at the emergency department, only to be put on a drip in the morning, he said.

When he arrived there on Monday morning he set about giving her water and helped nursing staff get her ready for a consultation with the medical practitioner. When he was ready to leave he pulled out his phone to take a picture of her. “They told me I could not, and called security. They manhandled me and took my phone.” They marched him to his car and told him to leave.

His mother was admitted to a ward soon after. Her son was told he would have to pick her up at the gate when she was discharged.

The Health Department was unable to comment on the events regarding the woman’s waiting period, nor was it able to comment on the physical assault on Steyn.

Pretoria News

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