The Eastern Cape High Court (Mthatha) has found that doctors and nurses at Butterworth Hospital performed disgracefully when a pregnant woman (16) in labour was admitted in September 2016. Judge Zamani Nhlangulela has held that negligent healthcare workers delayed the delivery of the woman’s baby by caesarean section, causing the child to suffer brain damage as a result of lack of oxygen. Quantum has yet to be decided.
According to a Daily Dispatch report, Nhlangulela found the foetus probably was already in distress by the time the mother arrived at Butterworth Hospital. Warning signs such as a raised foetal heart rate should have been heeded and, in terms of national maternity guidelines, resulted in an emergency surgical delivery.
Nhlangulela found the Butterworth Hospital staff did not apply the necessary care during the labour and their negligence resulted in the baby being born with cerebral palsy. Expert witnesses and obstetrician-gynaecologists Dr Linda Murray and Dr Chris Archer agreed that the brain injury probably occurred during labour.
In a joint minute to the court, they said the initial phase of labour was prolonged over 15 hours; the caesarean section was inexplicably delayed; and the mother’s labour was obstructed. They also stated foetal tachycardia, an elevated heart rate, had been present for over 18 hours before delivery, a warning sign the foetus may have been in distress and that emergency caesarean section delivery was necessary to save the baby’s life.
The Daily Dispatch says the delivery of the judgment coincided with a briefing to the provincial government executive committee (Exco) on work being done to limit medico-legal claims against the Health Department for children born with brain damage due to an incident of insufficient oxygen supply. The Exco report stated the department paid out R896m in claims but did not stipulate over what period this was done, nor the current estimation of government’s liability.
[link url="https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2021-02-03-babys-brain-injury-could-have-been-prevented-by-negligent-butterworth-medical-staff-judge-rules/"]Full Daily Dispatch report (Restricted access)[/link]
[link url="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAECMHC/2021/5.html"]Judgment[/link]