Parents of a three-year-old girl in Delft, outside Cape Town, have attributed their child’s injuries to her traumatic birth at Mowbray Maternity Hospital, and have now launched a legal claim against the provincial Health Department as the costs of caring for her pile up, reports TimesLIVE.
The toddler has already had four surgeries and will need at least another two: she also suffers from breathing problems because her diaphragm is elevated, affecting her lung function, said her mother Siphokazi Ncapayi.
Little Likothemba Ncapayi’s left arm hangs limp and largely unusable, while her complications mean her parents often watch her anxiously as she sleeps, fearing she may stop breathing.
Her mother said she was between 37 and 38 weeks’ pregnant when she first felt labour pains and went to the hospital.
“The doctor said I had labour pains and needed to be admitted. I was also bleeding. She said I should be given morphine for the pain,” she told TimesLIVE.
A scan showed the baby was large, but after spending the night at the hospital she was discharged the next day and told to return when she reached 40 weeks.
When she returned, she was still experiencing pain and bleeding.
“This time I was assisted by a student doctor. She said I was not supposed to be in that ward and referred me to the labour ward,” she said.
When her waters broke shortly afterwards, she was already nine centimetres dilated.
“I was still with the student doctor. Then my colour changed, so they called a nurse to bring me juice to bring up my sugar levels. I was in pain.”
She recalled telling her husband, Luvuyo, that she was losing energy and might pass out.
“I could faintly hear the doctor saying I was an emergency case. He said they can’t ‘lose two patients at the same time’. They told my husband to keep talking to me so that I wouldn’t close my eyes.”
Luvuyo said the delivery became increasingly tense as staff tried to help his wife give birth.
“They used a vacuum and forceps to assist the delivery, which is when our daughter’s left shoulder and neck were injured,” he said.
This injury was later identified as a brachial plexus injury – damage to the network of nerves sending signals from the spinal cord to the shoulder, arm and hand.
Luvuyo said both mother and baby were taken to the ward afterwards, but the attending doctor allegedly did not return to check on them.
“My wife had suffered an injury to her right leg and could not walk, and our baby would not stop crying. An elderly nurse went looking for the doctor and found him sleeping, which is when things changed,” he alleged.
He alleged the doctor was angry at being woken and told the nurse to call a paediatrician.
“The nurse reported the incident, and the next day the head of the hospital went to see my wife and apologised. He said they were trying to save her life and that of our child.”
When the family was discharged, they were referred to Groote Schuur Hospital for specialist care.
“One of the doctors said our child would be only partially normal,” said Luvuyo.
Likothemba underwent her first operation at just four-months-old, when surgeons took a nerve from another part of her body to repair the damaged nerve in her shoulder. But despite the surgery, her arm remains weak and largely immobile.
“Her arm is floppy, like someone who has had a stroke,” said her mother.
The toddler also suffers from breathing problems because her diaphragm is elevated, which affects her lung function.
“She sometimes stops breathing for a few seconds. What hurts is that no one is telling us what exactly is happening or what will happen with her lungs,” she said.
The family says Likothemba requires daily physiotherapy and frequent hospital visits.
“I am the only one employed,” said Luvuyo. “Sometimes we struggle just to take her to the hospital. We also worry about what will happen if she stops breathing while she is sleeping.”
Their case comes amid growing concern about the rising cost of medical negligence claims in the Western Cape.
In 2024, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) reported that there were 409 medico-legal claims against the department valued at R2.85bn between the 2015/16 and 2020/21 financial years.
During the same period, the department paid out R273.25m in claims.
The SIU also identified 33 fraudulent birth-injury claims worth about R409m in the province’s contingency liability register.
Western Cape Department of Health spokesperson Dwayne Evans acknowledged the concerns but was unable to comment on the specific case details because legal proceedings had been instituted.
“The department … understands how distressing birth-related complications can be for families,” he said.
“Our priority remains the safety and well-being of mothers and babies in our facilities.”
Evans said brachial plexus injuries can occur as a complication of difficult deliveries, particularly in cases of shoulder dystocia – an obstetric emergency where a baby’s shoulder becomes stuck during birth.
“Shoulder dystocia is often unpredictable and requires clinicians to act rapidly using established clinical manoeuvres to safely deliver the baby,” he said.
“Even when appropriate clinical management is followed, complications can still occur.”
He added that babies with suspected brachial plexus injuries are referred for specialised follow-up care involving multidisciplinary teams that may include orthopaedic specialists, physiotherapists and rehabilitation services.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
What provinces are coughing up for medico-legal claims
Mother sues Western Cape Health for R38m damages