Grow your own groceries
CEREBRAL palsy-impaired Kagiso* stared mesmerised as the gigantic manta ray glided majestically two metres from his eyes. A school of exotic fish circled around it before jetting off into colourful coral. He pointed excitedly to it and said in a raspy voice, “Mama, what is this thing, mama?”
Kagiso and seven other youngsters, along with their mothers, were seeing these sea marvels for the very first time on a Friedman & Associates sponsored trip to uShaka Marine World.
They don’t have much, coming from poverty-stricken parts of rural KwaZulu-Natal. And because of that, they rely on government services. Kagiso’s mother put her trust in a staterun hospital when it was time to give birth to him. Her trust was misplaced. The apathetic nurses ignored her cries of pain when she was in labour. Cries of pain that indicated her baby was in distress. If they’d gotten her to an operating room in time, Kagiso probably wouldn’t have cerebral palsy.
Now he has permanent movement disabilities, will struggle to study like other children, and he won’t be able to take care of himself, even as an adult.
“Like all the children we took to uShaka that day, he was failed by an uncaring system,” says Michael Friedman.
“We see cases like this all the time. Our job is to take up these mistreated families’ claims against the Health Department and fight to get them the compensation they deserve. Compensation that’s needed to provide Kagiso and the other children with the medical care they’ll need for the rest of their times.
“But we go beyond our job. Our clients need vital medication and we make sure they get it. Because they often can’t walk, we buy them only the best Kimba Neo wheelchairs from Ottobock, designed specifically for Cerebral Palsy. We send them to private therapy that’ll make their lives more bearable. And once we’ve proven negligence in a court of law, we organise them suitable and comfortable accommodation – something they’re certainly not used to.
“More than that, we want our clients to have a fuller experience of life. One they’ve never had. That’s why we do things like taking these unfairly impaired children on a journey of discovery to uShaka.
“Because we do the one thing many other law firms don’t do. We care.”
If your child suffered a problem at birth due to medical negligence, contact Friedman & Associates on 031 564 8043 or info@ friedman-law.co.za today. *Not his real name.