Durban - Medical negligence claims against the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health are nearing an astounding R1 billion, with most of the cases lodged against obstetricians and gynaecologists.
The cases in the maternal health sector alone amount to R800 million.
Responses to questions put to Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo by DA health spokeswoman Makhosazana Mdlalose have revealed Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital was facing the biggest number of claims - 16 totalling more than R100m.
King Edward VIII Hospital is facing 10 lawsuits amounting to R62.8m, followed by Addington with 15, totalling R47.2m.
Among the people who complained of negligence at the hands of state nurses and doctors was Dumi Majola who gave birth to a paralysed child seven years ago. Majola went to Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital on July 12, 2006, with labour pains but was turned away and told to come back the next day.
“The nurse who attended to me didn’t even do a scan to see if my baby was fine; she just looked at me and told me to go home,” she said.
Majola went back the next day, but only gave birth on July 14.
“I suspect my baby was starved of oxygen because I went for my regular clinic visits and not once was I told that my baby had any abnormalities,” she said.
Majola said her seven-year-old son, Manelisi, could not walk or talk properly and she blamed Prince Mshiyeni for this.
Last night provincial health spokesman Sam Mkhwanazi said just because claims were made against the department did not mean it was a true reflection of what happened.
The MEC said in his written responses to the legislature that the total amount of the claims for the 2012/13 financial year was R992.2m.
“This amount does not translate to the amount that will be paid out,” he said. He declined to give an outline of the claims, saying they were in court and sub judice.
He said the department did not have insurance to cover the claims, but carried a contingent liability for such claims.
“Only in the event of a ruling against the department, which involves the payment of a sum determined in the court, is payment made. The nature of the contingent liability is such that it caters for unforeseen events which cannot be predicted with certainty,” he said.
Durban attorney Michael Friedman, who specialises in medical negligence cases and who is handling Majola’s case, said he was dealing with about 100 new cases involving birth defects. The majority involved allegations of negligence by nurses.
“They get neglected and abused by the nurses. The baby is starved of oxygen and is born cerebral-palsied, blind, deaf, and paralysed. We have been on radio a few times in the past few months and every time we get hundreds of calls… What is happening out there is criminal.”
He said he had a major case, involving Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, in court in next month. In that matter, the department had disputed liability, but had not yet produced any reports.
Mdlalose said the DA was appalled by the number of cases. “The sheer volume of claims raises serious concerns over the quality of medical care offered to patients reliant on state health care. The scale of the problem also points to a major failure in terms of medical supervision.”
Mdlalose said it was unacceptable that the number of claims were escalating year after year.
Another attorney, Tony de Sousa, said he, too, had seen a peak in the number of cases involving public medical facilities, but attributed this to people knowing their rights, rather than an increase in negligence.
He said most involved birth defects and many involved the “bad attitude” of nurses. “Mothers… leave hospital not knowing what happened and that there is something wrong with their child,” he said.
De Sousa said other issues were post-operative care, for example putting bandages on too tightly for too long, stopping blood flow, resulting in loss of limbs. But he said he believed the situation in KZN, considering the shortage of equipment and staff, was better than in some provinces, such as the Eastern Cape.
The Mercury