Staff Reporter
HIGH Court Judge Beatrix de Jagger has ordered that the Ministry of Health and Social Services pay a married couple a total of N$1.2 million to a married couple after a pregnant woman who was in pain was made to wait 12 hours before an emergency caesarean section surgery was performed. The surgery, however, culminated in the stillbirth of the complainants’ child.
The plaintiffs, sued the Ministry of Health, a certain Dr Biti, and Dr Felix Mutombo.
On 6 March 2022, at Otjiwarongo, before her admittance to Otjiwarongo State Hospital’s maternity ward at about 18:00 with persistent, excruciating and severe abdominal pain and backache, the first plaintiff, acting in person, concluded an oral agreement with the defendants.
“The court is not dealing with conflicting views. As the matter comes before it on default judgment, the court only has the plaintiffs’ case before it. Dr Wicomb, also a general practitioner, is well-versed in informing the court about the care expected of a general practitioner. Based on the evidence, examining Dr Wicomb’s opinions and analysing her reasoning, which was logical, the court finds that the second and third defendants and the first defendant’s employees were negligent in several ways. They ignored the plaintiffs’ calls for an emergency caesarean section. They failed to monitor the first plaintiff and the unborn baby. They administered excessive Cytotec and failed to monitor the situation. They failed to perform an emergency caesarean section when required. They failed to timely examine the first plaintiff and administer due care from the initial diagnosis of foetal distress. The terms of the agreement were breached in that the caesarean section was performed too late and in contrast to the first plaintiff’s prevailing conditions and circumstances,” High Court Judge de Jagger said.
She added that the court accepts Dr Wicomb’s opinion that uterine tachysystole ensued from the Cytotec administration, which resulted in foetal hypoxia, foetal acidosis, and foetal demise.
“The court is satisfied that the plaintiffs proved factual causation, as the wrongful conduct was probably a cause of the loss. Regarding legal causation, the above wrongful acts are linked sufficiently closely or directly to the loss. The abdominal pains and backache persisted from admission on 6 March 2022 around 18:00 until the first plaintiff was operated on at 23:15 on 7 March 2022. That is a total of about 29 hours of persistent, excruciating and severe pain and bodily discomfort,” Judge de Jagger said, adding that the first plaintiff’s physical and mental suffering was intense.
