Netcare Mulbarton Hospital review: Medical negligence/malpractice, unprofessional, no ethics

On the afternoon of 1 May 2023, I rushed my 22 month old son Asher Moonsamy to Mulbarton Hospital around 12pm. I informed the nurse at reception that my son had swallowed a battery and we were immediately placed in the emergency room and an xray was conducted.

The xray revealed that the battery was lodged in my sons esophagus and this was extremely dangerous as a stagnant battery deteriorates faster than a moving battery and runs the risk of eroding his throat.

The Dr. advised we would need to be admitted for emergency assistance to remove the battery and that it will be done using a scope as the battery is fairly easily accessible. We were also told not to give my son anything to eat or drink.

By the time our admission was complete and we were moved to the pediatric ward you could hear the bubbling in my sons throat and chest and it was becoming difficult for him to breathe.

The nurse called Doctor Kasakanga at 15h00pm and was told to book a theater and administer a drip. My son was asleep at this point and I asked that we wait until he wakes up to put the drip.

My sons chest continued deteriorating and I approached the admissions nurse Nomcebo to ask when the Dr would get here and I was told that there are sicker children to be seen.

At 5pm I called the nurse to administer the drip as my son had woken up. The nurses attempted twice but could not get it right. I asked that they call the Dr again and request that she come in sooner as not only is my sons chest and throat getting worse but now we cannot even drip him and he had not eaten or had anything to drink since 10 that morning.

The nurse returned and advised that the dr said she will drip him in theater and did not give any response to coming in sooner. I asked the nurse when she will be in and they said this Dr always comes in late.

The Dr. finally arrived at 9pm, a staggering 9hrs since we arrived at the hospital and 6 hrs since the nurse first made contact with her as per our knowledge. The Dr. explained the dangers of leaving the battery in and that she would do a routine scope to remove it which should take around 30 minutes to an hour long.

I accompanied my son into theater and at 9h10pm Dr. Bantu arrived and sedated my son via the gas mask in order to drip him thereafter. I was then asked to leave.

After an hour passed we asked the nurse to follow up and we were told they were still busy, we followed up several times thereafter and the surgical team kept telling the nurse we should not panic they will call us when they are done.

The 30 minute routine scope turned into a 4hour ordeal and at 1am we were finally called to come into the theater. The Dr. met us at the reception of the theater and immediately went on to say that the battery had cooked very bad in his throat and she did not have the correct equipment to remove the battery. It has now moved down into his stomach.

I asked the dr, had she come in as soon as she was called and not 9 hours later surely the damage would have been minimal and she said I am jumping to conclusions. I responded by saying I still feel strongly that had she arrived when she was first called at 3pm we could have minimized the damage and she in turn asked me if I had proof that she was called. I was completely taken aback by this as the call was made by a nurse using the hospitals phone and I told her that I am sure it will be reflected on the call log. Prior to her leaving the ward she pulled the nurses into a separate room and told them not to furnish me with any call logs.

She went on to tell me that she will be moving him to Sunward Park where she works so that she can monitor him. I asked if she could not move him to Parklane Hospital and she said she already made the arrangements prior to us getting there for the move. I asked again and she said she does not know anyone there. Dr. Bantu came out and suggested we be moved to Alberton and she again said she does not know anyone there.

The floor manager was then called to facilitate the transfer and in his presence I made it known that I felt strongly that my sons emergency was not treated as such and I also voiced my dissatisfaction in the hospital we were been moved to.

I was then told that we could go and see my son in the recovery section. My son laid asleep, with a mouth full of blood, his lips were cut, his palate was cut, his tongue was cut and he was moaning from pain. Dr. Bantu came to reassure me that all of this was “normal” without me even saying a word and proceeded to roughly wipe my sons mouth as blood was coming out. I had to ask him to stop as I could see and hear that this was causing my son more pain.

While in the recovery section, 2 nurses who were on the team felt the urge to come and reassure me that everything was normal without being prompted.

I asked the nurses in recovery to please give my son a drip as he had not still had anything up to this point and they hooked an ivy bag to his drip.

We were moved back to the ward while we waited for the ambulance to arrive. In the ward I asked that the Dr. give my son something for pain as well as he moaned in pain non-stop and was having difficulty breathing and she refused. She said that he will get pain meds when he reached Sunward Park. I persisted that he needed something for pain and she said that I need to give him honey. This was at 1am in the morning. I said I will get the honey in the morning when shops are open but until then can she give him pain meds, she again refused. The nurse tried to assist and asked that she write the script and she refused once again.

I asked her if she was implying that there is no pain meds in the whole of Mulbarton Hospital and she just walked out without answering. Every question or concern that we raised she either walked out, said she will not discuss anything with us, told us we cannot understand anything or told me to calm down.

She instructed the nurse to push 10ml of water down my sons throat while he was sleeping and the nurse said she could not as he would choke, she got upset and walked off again. She could be heard arguing with the nurses outside.

At this point I noticed that it has been nearly 2 hours since the Ivy bag was hooked up and it had not moved. We then discovered that the drip was not actually in, it was taped to my sons arm but was not inserted. I immediately questioned how they sedated him successfully in theater when the needle was not even in his arm and she again walked off with no answer.

My son could be heard gurgling and battling to breathe and needed to be hooked up to oxygen and she walked out of the room leaving me to have to assist a nurse in inserting and strapping down the oxygen tube. The hospital did not even have the appropriate adhesive to tape down the tube with and the nurse had to compromise using a different tape which upon removal pulled my sons skin off with it.

I then made the call and said I need to be moved to any hospital but just not one where she works and the floor manager was present throughout all of this. No assistance or intervention was offered for the way we were been treated. The Dr. continued insisting that we go to Sunward Park and did not want to assist in the facilitation of transfer to a different hospital.

The doctor eventually left the building without even ensuring that my son was properly cared for.

I was left with no option but to sign a refusal of treatment and the paramedics who were god sent assisted in transporting us there. We had to through casualty and get my son admitted again.

The delay in treatment and botched scope caused my son to have to be in ICU and hospitalized for 6 days unnecessarily.

My son suffered surgical emphysema due to the prolonged ingestion of gas and had blood and liquid on his lungs after the scope.

My son is left traumatized from the experience and will not let anyone near him as he is afraid. He is not eating and cries non-stop. He wakes up constantly in terror. The ordeal that Mulbarton Hospital and its affiliates have put us through is atrocious to say the least.

I approached the hospital for care and did not expect for this to be the outcome. My family will forever be scarred from this entire ordeal.

Hospital has conceded that the drip was not working nor did they have the equipment.

Having read that another mum had to deal with this Dr just 18 days after myself under very similar circumstances is gut wrenching

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