Cape Town - Susan Rohde's medical practitioner, Dr Lize-Mare Steenkamp, came under fire for prescribing sleeping and anxiety pills, which listed suicide ideation as possible side effects.
Susan, the wife of property mogul Jason Rohde, was found dead on July 24, 2016. It was initially believed that she had hanged herself from the bathroom door of the Spier Wine Estate Hotel room she had been sharing with her husband. However, Jason was later charged with her murder.
Dr Steenkamp had been seeing Susan since 2014, administering Botox and other medical treatment and prescriptions.
On Wednesday, the Western Cape High Court heard that Steenkamp had prescribed Stilnox and Urbanol to Susan during a consultation a month before her death.
“The patient said she is under a lot of stress, dealing with conflict. She was using rescue remedies for anxiety, but had heartburn and difficulty in eating.
“She said she would go five days with two to three hours sleep at night. She said she was already seeing a psychiatrist,” said Steenkamp.
The court heard that Susan was given a prescription for one pack of Stilnox 12mg. The pack had 28 tablets and should be used for short term treatment.
An active ingredient for both Stilnox and Urbanol is Benzodiazepine.
Defence advocate Graham van der Spuy said one of the side effects for Benzodiazepine was suicide ideation.
“There is overwhelming scientific proof that the use of Benzodiazepine can increase the risk of suicide ideation,” he said.
To which Steenkamp replied: “I knew the risk when I prescribed it to the patient. I informed the patient to keep me in the loop of how she reacts to the medicine and to come for a follow up.”
Van der Spuy put it to the witness that the supply she had given Susan exceeded the short term use bracket.
He questioned why Steenkamp did not make clinical notes prior to prescribing the pills and also cast doubt on whether or not Susan was fully warned about the use of the medication.
“It is a professional requirement to keep full notes, yet you have nothing about this in your results, nor affidavits.
“There is no mention of informed process to warn specifically of the dangers of Stilnox, no follow up mentioned in your clinical notes, nothing.”
He told Steenkamp the method she used to diagnose Susan was not scientifically informed, nor did it adhere to medical principles.
Steenkamp said Susan did not appear to be depressed nor did she appear to have an anxiety disorder. She said it was momentary anxiety as she had a life stressor at that stage.
“It is only use of Benzodiazepine with depression and anxiety that increase risk of suicide.
“My experience of her was not that she was severely depressed patient with a risk of suicide,” she said.