Huge payout will provide my child with a better life
Department of health still has to pay for Bara negligence
A Johannesburg mother has told of how a multimillionrand payout will change her child’s life.
The mother, who asked not be named, took on the Gauteng department of health after her daughter, five, was born with cerebral palsy due to negligence by staff at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Diepkloof, Soweto.
She was awarded R25.4-million in damages by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg in February.
Although the department was ordered to pay by March 8, it has not done so.
The child suffers from severe cerebral palsy due to failure by the hospital doctors to do an emergency Caesarean section when she was born on December 30 2011. She cannot sit, talk, walk or even crawl. The mother and child live in a tworoomed shack.
“First, I want her to have a home where she will be able to move freely. I want her to go to school so she can learn, play and be with children like her.
“She cannot do anything on her own,” said the woman, originally from Limpopo.
The mother said her daughter had not led a normal life since she was born and it took her six months to figure out that her daughter was paralysed.
“I could not figure out what was wrong with her, but I was worried because she was unZion able to do things children her age would normally do.
“She did not play, murmur words or even sit by herself.
“The doctors at the clinic told me that she was not maturing as quickly as children her age were supposed to.
“I then remembered that something unusual happened when I went into labour at Bara,” she said.
Her labour was prolonged by almost 48 hours without the necessary measures being taken.
The mother said there was nothing that could ever make her desert her child.
“I love her. She is my baby. I cannot change that I am her mother. God gave her to me.
“The bond between us cannot be broken. It is important
‘ ‘ I want her to have a home where she can move freely
that we get the money so that she can get the proper medical care she needs. Public hospitals have not been able to help her,” she said.
The child cannot chew and her mother feeds her.
“She eats soft foods. I take about 30 minutes when feeding her. A t times she cries and it hurts me that she cannot talk to me to tell me what is wrong.”
The woman’s attorney, Deon Smith from René Fouché Incorporated, said the baby’s life expectancy as agreed by experts in court was 23 years.
“That is if she receives all the necessary treatment she requires. This includes dentists, psychologists, physiologists and occupational therapists.
“Experts also agreed that R11-million will be required for future medical costs. We had a meeting with the department’s representatives (on Tuesday) and we understand that they have financial constraints. However, we want them to pay a huge amount of the capital and we can make arrangements for them to pay the rest in instalments,” Smith said.