Two probes now into death fall
THE police and the Department of Health are now investigating the fall that claimed the life of a young man at Livingstone Hospital on Christmas morning.
Zanoxolo Mbeki, 29, died after plunging from a small window at the hospital at about midnight.
Officials first said Mbeki’s fall had resulted from “alcohol intoxication”, but Mbeki’s uncle Weza Moss said this was not true. Mbeki, he said, was admitted to the hospital for tests after he started having seizures.
He had been in hospital for a few days prior to his death.
Health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the department had started its own investigation into the incident.
“The investigation is under way, but not necessarily by an ombudsman as he apparently only gets involved in mediating medico-legal cases,” he said.
Previously, Kupelo had said the matter would be referred to the ombudsman as there was a factual dispute between the hospital and the family about the incident.
Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg confirmed that police were investigating after an inquest docket was opened.
It took hospital authorities three days to notify the police.
Mbeki’s body was marked as unknown and Moss had to go through all the unidentified patients to find him.
Moss said the family was taking legal advice about the matter.