Mother of stillborn gets damages for emotional shock
Ten years after a mother delivered a stillborn baby as a result of negligence by a hospital in Johannesburg‚ the SCA ordered the Gauteng Health MEC to pay her R100 000 in damages for emotional shock, says a TimesLIVE report. Delisile Mbhele claimed that negligence on the part of the medical staff resulted in her baby being stillborn.
Her application for damages in the Gauteng High court (Johannesburg) was unsuccessful, but the SCA found that the conduct of the medical staff at Chris Hani Baragwanath on 18 August 2006 was negligent and that such negligence caused the baby to be stillborn.
Judges Zukisa Tshiqi and Connie Mocumie found that Mbhele had proven a claim for emotional shock. They said after the birth of her stillborn baby‚ she was inappropriately taken to the maternity ward where she had to contend with an empty cot. They said her behaviour months after the death of the baby showed that she had difficulty coping and that she still has not recovered completely.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
