Derby-Lewis 'nearly died due to negligence'

27 March 2014 - 02:07 By Katharine Child
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Clive Derby-Lewis , jailed for life for his part in the murder of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani. File photo
Clive Derby-Lewis , jailed for life for his part in the murder of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani. File photo
Image: Elizabeth Sejake. © Sunday Times.

Clive Derby-Lewis almost died from a perforated lung after hospital staff failed to adequately attend to his stab wounds.

This is according to the letter his lawyer, Marius Coertze, sent to the Department of Correctional Services yesterday.

Derby-Lewis has been in jail for 21 years after being convicted of the 1993 murder of SACP leader Chris Hani.

Coertze said the department could no longer be trusted to keep Derby-Lewis safe.

He has been stabbed twice in the past two months, first with a sharpened spoon and this week with a broken glass bottle.

On Tuesday, after multiple calls from his wife, he was taken to see his doctor at a private hospital.

The doctor found his broken arm had not been correctly set and would not heal.

Then on Tuesday night Derby-Lewis started to suffocate on his own blood. The same doctor found Derby-Lewis had a hole in his lung.

An emergency operation saved his life.

Coertze said both the prison doctors and prison management "are liable for gross negligence".

He has requested the doctor's names so he could lay a complaint of misconduct against them with the Health Professions Council.

Coertze said Derby-Lewis has cancer in his chest and on his face and requires an operation.

He also has high blood pressure, which is not being treated in prison, he said.

Derby-Lewis's bid for medical parole was denied.

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