An Mpumalanga mother has been awarded R540 000 in damages after her son was born with severe cerebral palsy due to negligent staff at a local hospital, and who died at just six-years-old.
She had initially claimed R4m from the provincial Health MEC, only claiming general damages on behalf of herself for the hardships she had to endure while looking after her son until his death: she blamed Embhuleni Hospital staff for his condition.
The court earlier ruled that the provincial health authority was liable for 90% of the damages the mother could prove she had suffered, reports the Cape Times.
It was found that the negligence culminated in the child developing cerebral palsy due to a lack of oxygen at birth.
The mother was admitted to the hospital in February 2017 to deliver her baby, but went on to endure prolonged hours of labour. The baby suffered foetal distress and brain injury, resulting in permanent brain damage, disability, and cerebral palsy.
In determining the amount of damages payable to her, various experts, including a specialist physician, a neurosurgeon, a physiotherapist, and an occupational therapist, gave their inputs to the court.
The experts saw the child when he was five, a year before his death. It was noted that he could not communicate, and was multi-disabled with severe intellectual impairment.
He was unable to move independently, had to be fed by others, and was incontinent. He was unable to lift his head when placed in a prone position; he could not sit, stand, crawl, or roll, and he was wheelchair-bound.
In deciding the amount of damages, Acting Judge MR Moleleki referred to case law, in which it was said that although the law attempts to repair the wrong done to a sufferer by compensating him or her in money, there are no scales by which pain and suffering can be measured.
The judge said he could blindly follow the amounts awarded in similar cases. “The awards in those cases are not to be slavishly followed as they are guidelines only.”
In reducing the mother’s R4m claim, he said: “I have sadly come to the realisation that money cannot compensate the plaintiff for that which the child experienced.”
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
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DA calls for state doctors to be held accountable for negligence