State to pay R11.1m for prosthetic arm for girl

Hand amputated after negligence

The Eastern Cape government is paying R11.1m for a bionic arm for a 13-year-old Mdantsane girl whose left hand was amputated in 2012 due to negligence of staff at Mdantsane’s NU9 clinic and Cecilia Makiwane Hospital (CMH).

Even though medical staff denied that their delay in properly diagnosing Liqhame Stemele’s broken arm – which caused the hand to become gangrenous, and eventually required amputation at the wrist – health MEC Sindiswa Gomba admitted liability when the matter came before the Bhisho High Court.

Stemele, from Kwelerha village, was five when she fell on her elbow and broke her arm.

But staff negligence means that Liqhame, now 13, must be fitted with a new prosthetic left arm every 18 months until her bones reach maturity within the next few years.

At that point, she will be fitted with a bionic arm.

East London orthopaedic specialist Dr Pieter Olivier consulted the legal advisers representing Liqhame’s mother Thomaza, in the multimillion-rand claim for damages against the health department.

Olivier found that when Liqhame was examined at the clinic, the treating official failed to refer her for X-rays and treated her with only a bandage.

Later, at CMH, orthopaedic staff failed to diagnose a supracondylar fracture - an injury to the upper arm close to the elbow. Indicators of such a fracture should have alerted staff to the need for X-rays. But they suggested she had suffered a hairline fracture of a bone.

Liqhame was treated with a plaster of Paris cast, which could have been put on too tightly, compromising the oxygen supply and contributing to gangrene in her hand.

“There were no instructions given to the mother and the child returned two days later with a gangrenous left hand.”

Attorney Lutho Klaas, of IC Clark Attorneys in East London, said medical staff had denied they had been negligent in their diagnosis and treatment, but the department conceded negligence “at the door of the court” on January 23.

Klaas said the amputation had caused Liqhame depressive and post traumatic stress disorders, for which she would require psychotherapy.

Acting judge Mickey Mfenyana made the agreement between Stemele and Gomba an order of court.

‘‘ Child returned from hospital with a gangrenous left hand