Widower’s family despair continues
TRAGEDY: WIFE DIED FROM ‘ILLEGAL’ OPERATION, THEN SON KILLED
Johannesburg General Hospital says it is still trying to locate woman’s file.
ACongolese widower who is still coming to terms with the death of his wife – whom he says died due to negligence in the Johannesburg General Hospital 10 years ago – was struck this week by another family tragedy.
Pastor Martin Munyangai’s son Franck, 20, died after a fist fight with a colleague at a clothing shop at Fordsburg Mall on Sunday. On the same day, his 19-year-old daughter was run over by a car while rushing to her brother’s workplace following the incident.
The daughter, who did not want to be named, survived, but suffered minor injuries to both her legs.
The tragedy of the loss of Munyangai’s son has opened wounds that were healing. He says his late wife, Neneth, died during an operation at Johannesburg General Hospital that was illegal.
Munyangai maintains his wife suffered from kidney stones and was operated on by a team at the hospital without her consent.
The problems, on his account, began when he took his wife to the Johannesburg General. A doctor was not able to locate her medical dossier, he says, and gave him the responsibility of locating it.
Once the fi le had been located, the doctor discovered the wrong tests had been carried out on her, not the ones he had ordered after examining her.
“He told me they could do the specific exam the next morning and that my wife should remain in hospital. My wife couldn’t speak a single word in English and I had to be her interpreter.
“The next morning they said they are going [to do] the exam, but we went to the theatre. I wanted to go in, but they refused.
“I said: ‘I am the husband, and I have a right to be there. They did ask us if they could operate [on] her, but we both declined,” said Munyangai.
The couple were told the examination would only take 15 minutes, but Munyangai says it took more than an hour.
His daughters were later told their mother had been operated on, that it had gone well and she would be allowed to go home the next day.
“The following day when I went there, they didn’t want me to see her in ICU. I was suspicious. While they were refusing to let
The following day when I went there, they didn’t want me to go and see her in ICU. I was suspicious. When they refused to let me in, they were busy cleaning up blood
me in, they were busy cleaning up blood.”
Finally, he says, they told him that his wife was “fine” and she was out of danger.
“But I could see she was not alive. They asked me to go home and return the next morning.”
Munyangai said he received a call at midnight informing him of his wife Neneth’s death.
The Gauteng health department said it would respond to Munyangai’s enquiry about his wife’s death when it had located the fi les on her case. Because the alleged incident had taken place 10 years ago, it would take time to find out what had happened.
Pastor Martin Munyangai