Cape Town - Mitchells Plain resident said he still suffered from the after-effects wrong medication he was given by the Mitchells Plain District Hospital.
Gerald Diedericks, 68, a diabetic for 34 years, visited the hospital after experiencing abdominal discomfort and high blood sugar.
His sister, Estelle Johannessen, said that upon his discharge on April 1 he was given medication meant for someone else. This included clozapine, used for the treatment of schizophrenia, and epilim for epilepsy.
She said his daughter told her to take pictures of the medication so that they could check it online. The daughter checked and soon realised the medication was meant for someone else, but by then it was too late.
By the time his daughter called to alert him it was the wrong, he had taken it and his tongue had swollen within minutes.
The family notified the hospital and called for an ambulance which arrived two hours later. By then Diedericks was already transported by car to Groote Schuur’s ICU.
“What a sight, how traumatic it was to see our brother on this intubation and ventilation,” Johannessen said.
She was appalled by the lack of communication by Mitchells Plain District Hospital staff and has since had two meetings with its management over the incident.
“There has been much improvement but he is not the man we used to know. He can't walk without his legs just giving way sometimes. We got him a walker and a wheelchair. There’s days he feels stronger than others,” Johannessen said about Diedericks’s condition.
“Now he would often say, ”I’m a bit confused about that and I'm not too sure about this“ but never before did my brother ever speak like that, he was very witty. He was a keen chess player and after discharge, he tried playing a game of chess but he couldn’t, he was just so tired,” she said.
Diedericks was a keen golfer, chess and dominoes player, but now has a heart condition and suffers mobility issues.
“I partly blame myself for not checking, but I mean you trust the hospital to give you the right medication. It was a matter of seconds, I just swallowed those tablets and then my daughter phoned. They are saying now there are problems with my heart, like a leaking valve, and I might need surgery,” he said.
Health and Wellness Department spokesperson Monique Johnstone confirmed that staff failed to check Diedericks medication, which was standard practice. She said the medication however did not cause heart complications.
“Mitchells Plain Hospital management has taken this incident very seriously and reported the case to the Department’s Medico-legal department and the Office of Health Standard Compliance.
“Management met with the family and the patient to discuss the incident and arranged home-based therapeutic care. Immediate disciplinary steps were implemented towards the staff involved, who provided the patient with the incorrect medication,” she said.