A woman who eventually had her ring finger amputated after being attacked at her home in Centurion in 2016 has brought a R2m lawsuit against the emergency centre at Mediclinic Kloof, the hospital where she was treated after one of her attackers bit her finger in his haste to get her wedding ring off.
The painkillers prescribed as treatment had no effect, Aneme Malan stated in court papers, and eventually, after a year of treatment, the finger had to be amputated. Malan, a deputy DG in the Department of Tourism, suffers from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder due to the incident, notes a Sunday Times report. According to papers filed at the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), Malan said several visits to hospitals had resulted doctors cleaning the wound and discharging her with pain medication.
Then, on 15 March 2017, the decision was made to amputate the finger because of the infection. Malan claims doctors failed to adequately monitor her condition to ensure she recovered from the injury and says the amputation was a direct consequence of the doctors’ negligent breach of legal duty.
Dr Francois du Toit, sole director of the company that owns the emergency centre and who is defending the lawsuit, referred all queries to his lawyer, Jan van der Westhuizen, who said they were opposing the claim, denying all liability on his client’s side. “Our client denies being informed by Malan at any time during her treatment that she was bitten by one of her assailants,” van der Westhuizen said.
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