Patient: the hits kept coming
HEARTLESS: ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT AT HOSPITAL RESULTS IN LOSS OF A LEG, NOT JUST A TOE
Infection spread to foot while waiting for the op, then further.
Voilla Ncube went to Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital to have her toe amputated in what was meant to be a relatively simple procedure. Instead, she was allegedly subjected to abuse, starved and had a leg amputated above the knee without her consent.
Now restricted to a wheelchair and unable to work and support her family, Ncube tearfully relived the two-month-long trauma she suffered at the hands of nurses at Charlotte Maxeke.
A diabetic, Ncube first went to a private clinic in October last year after her toe developed sores. The clinic told her the toe needed to be amputated to avoid a possible foot and leg infection.
Without medical aid or funds for the operation, the clinic directed her to Charlotte Maxeke.
Her ordeal began on 16 October when she was admitted.
After two weeks of waiting for surgery and without adequate care, her toe began to fester, infecting her foot.
“The area above the painful toe turned black, and none of the nurses was able to tell me when the surgery would take place,” Ncube said.
“A doctor finally arrived to get me ready for the operating room, I signed papers agreeing to have my leg cut off just after the ankle. The doctor spoke to me about the surgery.”
Weak, hungry, with a very low blood sugar level and in excruciating pain, Ncube woke up to find her stump was not stitched up.
According to Ncube, her wound was never washed and dressed so it could heal.
When her employer’s daughter, Marina Barkley, started calling the hospital to complain about Ncube’s alleged mistreatment and her being given paracetamol only for her agonising post-surgery pain, Ncube’s treatment allegedly grew worse.
“I wasn’t used to hopping on one leg; there was no-one to help me. No crutches were available so I could go to the bathroom.
“A nurse was with me when I slipped; she slapped me across my face. I cried, asking myself what is it that I did to the staff that they treat me so horribly,” Ncube said.
As days went by, the untreated, gaping wound began to stink. She showed The Citizen photos of the wound, seeping yellow pus.
With the wound having become infected, the 59 year old was taken back to the operating room again, where more of the leg was amputated.
“I expected them to clean it and treat it. I even asked them to stitch me up and close it, but that did not happen. They instead gave me heavy medication. I woke up with the rest of my leg cut off.”
Even then, no wound care was administered, she said.
According to her, she was then allocated a room alone. In severe pain after the surgery, she screamed, asking for painkillers, to no avail.
The domestic worker said she fell and fainted.
“I almost died. When I came to, I was told that I was resuscitated. My lips had glucose on them,” said Ncube.
The Citizen’s inquiries to the Gauteng department of health went unanswered, despite officials being aware of Ncube’s ill treatment since last year.
E-mail correspondence between Barkley and the Office of
Health Standards Compliance deputy director Ntombi Ndukuya shows that no proper investigation was launched, nor did they interview Ncube.
However, a recorded meeting between hospital management, Ncube’s daughter and Barkley showed how officials shifted the blame.
Dr Ismail Cassimjee, a Charlotte Maxeke surgeon, said in the meeting that Ncube was “disorientated and confused” most of the time.
He added she should be thankful for leaving the hospital alive.
“I can assure you she was medically taken care of. She had multiple super specialists. I saw her every day in those two months,” said Cassimjee.
“We should be thankful she came out alive. She developed acute kidney injury while in hospital.”
With pressure mounting from the Barkley family, the hospital shipped Ncube off to South Rand Hospital in December.
Without crutches, she uses the wheelchair which was given to her by Charlotte Maxeke during her transfer to South Rand Hospital.
She said nurses told her to return it if “she has no use for it”.
“They took my other leg, I only have one leg and they told me to return the wheelchair. How am I supposed to move around without the second leg?” she asked.
Doctors at South Rand Hospital did blood tests and did not find anything wrong with her kidneys, said Barkley.
“Charlotte Maxeke staff just lied to us. Ncube is part of our family, having been with us for many years. What they did to her is evil, more so coming from health care staff,” she said.
Cassimjee said allegations that nurses and doctors did not attend to her were “part of her confusion”.
Another official, Lehlohonolo Lehurutsi, referred to as the head of Cassimjee’s unit, ranted about the Barkleys informing The Citizen about the mistreatment and denied complaints against the hospital.
“South Rand nursed me back to health. Charlotte Maxeke took my whole leg instead of just one toe,” Ncube said with tears in her eyes.
“My life is a misery now, and I won’t get my leg back. I cannot work anymore, my life is over.”
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