The story of a North West woman who unknowingly left the hospital with a dead foetus in her belly and only realised this after 30 days is an outrage. The woman, only identified in court papers as LLM, lodged a R1.8m damages claim against the provincial health MEC's office over the negligence that led to her being discharged without a proper assessment after having a miscarriage.
It was only after 30 days that she started noticing that something was amiss; her body started releasing a stench. Her legal representation bungled the case as they could not prove the medical malpractice. The treatment the woman got is not only a disgrace, but shows us how detrimental the intersection between poor legal services and poor health systems can be.
Not only was she let down by the doctors, but also her lawyers failed to provide the court with compelling evidence and arguments that would grant her justice. They lost the case, in part, due to the unavailability of their expert witness, and the court also noted that their qualifications and credentials were not included in his report.
The judge said the expert report is based on the “say-so” of LLM, and no research had been done to assist the court on the medico-legal understanding of the concepts “twin pregnancy, miscarriage vis-à-vis stillbirth given the period of gestation, missed miscarriage, incomplete miscarriage, retained products of conception (clots, membranes and placenta) etc.
Again, this shows the poor work done by the legal team. We are flabbergasted at the conduct of the practitioners who were supposed to help her. This is, quite literally and figuratively, a miscarriage of justice.
She has suffered an unnecessary double jeopardy, and something should be done about this. We should be concerned that women are not safe in the hands of both the law and the health system.
This incident also shows the poor state of our public hospitals and the lack of facilities. The standard operating procedure in place should serve as guidance to healthcare workers on what to do and how to execute their duties.
Marion Stevens, founding director of the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition in South Africa and who sits on the Gender Advisory Panel for the World Health Organization, said this case illustrates the difficulties encountered by poor women in under-resourced communities.
She said a lack of proper hi-tech equipment and high-level training for nurses are among the reasons the public healthcare system fail women. She said it was standard for women who have undergone a gynaecological procedure to go back for a check-up six days after the treatment to ensure everything is normal.
Had that happened in this instance, healthcare workers would have discovered the foetus before the patient experienced trouble. The health departments across the country have rampant medical negligence cases brought against them as a result of poor health practices.
Last month, the office of the auditor-general told parliament that provinces faced contingent liabilities for medico-legal claims in excess of R75bn in 2022/23 (equivalent to more than 75% of the health budget for that year) and paid out R1.45bn to successful claimants.
Equally, legal professionals are expected to diligently and competently represent their clients, especially in cases as sensitive as medical negligence claims. The consequences of inadequate legal representation in such cases can have devastating effects on the lives of those seeking justice.
This case underscores the need for greater accountability within the legal profession and serves as a call to action for improved standards and oversight. Individuals must have access to reliable and ethical legal representation, particularly when they are already grappling with the physical, emotional and financial toll of medical negligence.
What happened to this woman should not be repeated, and the North West health MEC, Sello Lehari, should hang his head in shame that the public has to experience such a disservice in health facilities in his province.
The department may have won the case and they won't have to pay anything, but this should serve as a clarion call that the MEC must make sure health facilities in the province are adequately resourced and staff receive regular training to make sure no-one else goes through what LLM went through.
It is well known that high court rolls are clogged, and there is a huge backlog, so it's no surprise the judgment only came out now, almost six years after the incident.
This woman’s experience must serve as a catalyst for positive change within the legal and health system, and it is incumbent upon us all to demand accountability and strive for a legal landscape where individuals can trust in the pursuit of justice.
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