An Ekurhuleni hospital has denied ignoring the pleas for help from a 15-year-old girl who gave birth to twins on her own. Neither of the infants, born at 25 weeks, survived.
And while the teen now wants to bury them, her family claims the hospital said they had already been cremated.
The girl had apparently been attending antenatal classes and medical check-ups at her local clinic, accompanied by her mother and aunt, but only became aware she was carrying twins when she went into premature labour at school on 25 February.
News24 reports that her mother and aunt took her to the Far East Rand Hospital, but when they got there, her waters broke.
She was pushed in a wheelchair to a ward where a doctor examined her and said she was carrying twins.
She was placed in a ward, she said, but minutes later, the pain worsened.
“I called nurses to come and help. They didn’t come. I could feel that the baby was coming out. I gave birth to a boy on my own.
“Afterwards, a nurse arrived, cut the umbilical cord and took my baby away. Before she left, I told her the second baby was coming.”
The teen said the nurse ignored her and walked away with the first infant.
However, Gauteng Health Department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba has denied the allegations.
“According to reports from the hospital, the delivery was done with the assistance of the nurses.”
Modiba said the teen was admitted as she was only 25 weeks’ pregnant. with a medical condition.
“She gave birth to twins. The first was delivered alive but in need of medical attention and was taken to the premature unit, where he died within 24 hours.”
Second delivery
The teen said about 30 minutes after she gave birth to the first child, the contractions started again.
“I screamed, calling nurses, and no one responded. Another pregnant woman in the ward jumped off her bed and ran out, calling nurses to come and help,” she said.
“I then gave birth to the second baby boy on my own. He, too, was crying. I was weak and bleeding. The baby lay on my legs. I called my mother, telling her I had given birth to two boys by myself.”
She said her mother said she had been prevented from coming to the ward.
“I took pictures of the second baby, whose umbilical cord was still attached to me. He was crying, and I didn’t know what to do except to pat him on his back and cover him with a sheet to keep him warm.”
The teen said the nurses returned to the ward and began shouting at her.
“They said I should have waited for them before giving birth again. I was crying. My child stopped crying. A nurse lifted him in the air by his leg and said he had died,” she said, “and then told me my first baby had died too.”
According to Modiba, the second baby was stillborn.
The family said the hospital cremated the twins without their approval.
“A nurse claimed my niece gave them permission to cremate the babies,” her aunt said.
“One senior official at the hospital claimed her colleagues were negligent and advised us to lay criminal charges and sue the hospital,” she added.
The family is demanding the remains be returned to them.
Modiba said that “because of the weight of both babies – one was 700g and the other 800g – the bodies could not be released to the family for burial”.
"However, the grandmother signed the incineration forms for both of them after an explanation from the ward sister,” he added.
“We can further confirm that both bodies were shown to the family for closure. The mother was provided with two sessions of counselling, and she is welcome to come back for more sessions if she is not coping – for continuous psychological support.”
Witness
Meanwhile, Reginah Phambani, who was in the same ward, said she was witness to the births and had hurried to call the nurses before the second twin was born.
“I saw the young girl when she arrived in our ward. You could see she was in excruciating pain. She gave birth twice on her own.
“A nurse only came after the first child arrived, and then took him away. That child was alive. The girl again gave birth to her second child on her own, and afterwards, nurses arrived and began shouting at her.”
She said she’d had a similar experience at the same hospital three years previously.
“I gave birth to a stillborn baby on my own. Nurses refused to help me until I after the birth.”
Luzonne Mentz, who specialises in counselling bereaved parents, said the bodies of miscarried babies younger than 26 weeks’ gestation were regarded as medical waste, and families needed to ask for permission to collect the remains.
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