Betty Mabuza of Welkom in the Free State went back and forth to a clinic in the last few months of her pregnancy. When she finally got help in a hospital, a doctor told her she had been carrying a dead child for more than a month.Her story is related in a report titled "Free State in Chains", released by the Treatment Action Campaign yesterday. The report details the findings of a "people's health commission" held in June.Mabuza told the commission that after being told her baby was dead "a nurse came in and said: 'Are you able to give birth on your own?'"I knew I couldn't and only later, when ... the head was already coming out, did the nurses help me. They showed me my baby, it was terrible, my child was rotten."The commission found that the:Healthcare facilities in Free State are in a state of neglect;There is a severe staff shortage;Whistle-blowing is discouraged, if not met with severe intimidation; andLeadership of the provincial health department is ineffective and unaccountable.The report recommends compensation for victims of neglect and that the health MEC be held responsible for failings in the healthcare system. "It is essential that those in positions of power set higher standards of professionalism and respect for patients."..