An injection in the neck to alleviate excruciating migraines, which caused a woman to suffer from partial tetraplegia has resulted in a R5.1m negligence claim against a Pretoria doctor who advertised his pain-relieving procedures on radio.
ccording to a Pretoria News report, Salome Janse van Rensburg instituted the claim against Dr Russel Raath. The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has now appointed an advocate to act as a curator to conduct the claim for partial loss limbs and torson, on behalf of the 42-year old.
It was stated in papers before the court that Janse van Rensburg consulted Raath after her mother had heard an advertisement on the radio that he could relieve pain. The woman said she had been struggling especially with pain in her neck, coupled with nausea, since she was 19, and she was desperate for some relief. She went to see Raath in 2013 and he examined her by just pressing on various parts of her neck. No further physical examination was done, she said. The report says he explained to her that there were various procedures he could carry out.
The one was with a pain machine, but he said this was invasive. The doctor then explained that there was another “light procedure” in which he would work on the nerves of her neck. Janse van Rensburg said the doctor was “quite vague” about the name of the procedure.
The report says on 31 January, 2013, the doctor performed a rhizotomy – where nerve roots in the spinal cord are severed to relieve pain – on her neck at a day clinic. It is claimed that as result of his negligent treatment, he penetrated Janse van Rensburg’s spinal cord with needles and damaged it. This resulted in immediate severe pain and temporary total paralysis of her entire body. The woman said that although she was somewhat better, she still suffered from paralysis. Apart from this, her headaches were more severe.
Janse van Rensburg recalled that when she woke up after the procedure, she wanted to sit but found she could not move. Her headache was so severe that it felt as if her head “was going to blow off”. Nurses phoned the doctor, who prescribed pain medication. One nurse told her that they should not phone him again. Janse van Rensburg said she wanted to speak to the doctor to find out what was happening to her but was told he was not available. Her mother said when she got to her daughter, the latter was “screaming with pain”.
She was transferred to the Jakaranda Hospital, where she had to be wheeled into the doctor’s consulting room. She said she asked him what happened and he took out a model of a head and explained to her that somehow the needles Raath used “went in too far”.
The report says Raath initially denied liability but later conceded that something had gone wrong. The amount of damages liable to him will be determined at a later stage. Janse van Rensburg meanwhile stated in court papers that she once managed a guest house, but was now unable to work.
[link url="https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/paralysed-woman-in-r5m-claim-for-damage-to-her-spinal-cord-18204257"]Pretoria News report[/link]