E Cape health MEC to pay damages for negligence

THE Eastern Cape Health Department has been ordered to pay damages to the mother of a child who suffered cerebral palsy due to medical negligence at the Madzikane Kazulu Memorial Hospital.

- CHEVON BOOYSEN

The mother had appealed the decision of the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court in Mthatha, in which the health MEC's plea amounted to a bare denial, denying every aspect of negligence, to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

The minor child, born in 2013, suffered a brain injury during the birth process and, according to the court record, this was due to the medical staff's negligence in not properly conducting observations and could have prevented the injury that caused cerebral palsy.

There was uncontested evidence that there was a cord around the foetus's neck during the birth process. The cord was wrapped thrice around the baby's neck and this was recorded as a complication.

The baby suffered an ischaemic hypoxic injury, and the SCA had to find out whether the medical staff attended timeously.