ANGUISH OF A TERRIFIED MOTHER
Hospital allows ‘seriously disturbed and dangerous’ daughter out on the streets
An East London mother is in anguish after her seriously ill 14-year-old daughter was discharged from the psychiatric ward at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital (CMH) in April without her knowledge.
The identity of the mother and child are being withheld for their protection.
The mother accused nurses at CMH of being callous and indifferent.
She said the child had been released to her biological father despite a welter of medical assessments which stated that the child needed to be placed in a psychiatric institution to protect herself and the public.
The mother had phoned the hospital for a routine check-in that afternoon and was “nonchalantly” told that her daughter had been discharged and transported by ambulance to Adelaide, where her biological father lives.
The devastated mother said: “We were told the hospital was not a dumping zone and that she had to go home.
“One other nurse even [allegedly] said if we could not handle our child then we should contact social services to give her up for adoption.
“That is not what we want. We just want the best for her and we know she can receive the best care at a facility.”
The woman said she did not have the money to fight the hospital’s actions in court.
The teen was admitted to the CMH ward in December 2019, as instructed by the East London magistrate’s court, because of multiple psychiatric disorders which posed a danger to herself and those around her.
The teen has been diagnosed with conduct disorder, intellectual disability, major neurocognitive disorder with aggressive and hypersexual behaviours, ADHD, subtle foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and reactive attachment disorder.
The court order, dated November 13 2019, said the girl was a high-risk patient with the potential to show aggression towards people.
Another court document, dated December 13 2019, states that the health SG and HOD of social development at the time would jointly be responsible “to provide and secure a facility and to place the minor in such facility which is managed by an organ of state...”
The girl was discharged on April 16 2021, 10 days after her 14th birthday.
Department of health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the allegations were viewed in a very serious light.
“We wish to advise the mother to call our call centre on 080-003-2364 so that we can investigate. We always insist on our officials treating people with humility and practising Batho Pele — putting people first — when rendering services,” Kupelo said.
As a result of the child’s behaviour over the years, the mother said a number of schools and special schools had rejected the girl.
At four months old, she was diagnosed with infantile masturbation. And at the age of three, her behaviour was not that of a “normal” child, the mother said.
She shuddered when telling the Dispatch that her daughter had started to place foreign objects like wooden spoons up her private parts while a toddler.
“She has physically assaulted teachers and molested other children. I fear for my daughter’s life and those around her.
“I am terrified that, every time my phone rings, I will hear that she has died or that she has harmed someone else,” the mother said.
She said the girl had spent the first 10 years of her life living at home and in foster care, but nobody could “manage” her.
She said people did not understand the severity of her child’s condition, and that she could only be contained and controlled in a psychiatric facility.
The mother and stepfather of the child had spent three years in court trying to get her into a safe facility and so, when she was “abruptly” discharged from CMH without notification, it terrified them, the mother said.
The minor was admitted to CMH as there was no facility in the Eastern Cape, private or public, that could accommodate her.
The Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town was the only hospital which had such a facility, but it was undergoing construction at the time.
As an interim measure, the court recommended the child be placed in a psychiatric unit at CHM for them to seek a suitable placement at facilities within or outside the province.
Psychiatrist Dr Madala Witbooi recommended that the child be placed in a psychiatric child adolescent unit with a multi-discipline team for a period of time.
Rain Battiss, a counselling psychologist, said in cases like these, children needed an institution for treatment purposes.
She said the province had minimal resources to assist in these cases, and added that they were mostly neurological, which required interventions.
“There is something in the nervous system which is not functioning.”
Battiss said it was also possible for children to have extreme behavioural patterns as a result of past trauma.
“Questions of where such behaviour could come [from] should not be ruled out, while neurological malfunctions could also be at play,” she said.
She has physically assaulted teachers and molested other children. I fear for my daughter’s life and those around her. I am terrified that, every time my phone rings, I will hear that she has died or that she has harmed someone else