Baby switch shock: Mother told to bury �wrong� baby
Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday November 17, 2016 16:17
The distraught mother, Dineo Bentu, lodged an urgent application before Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo against NRH demanding the release of medical records, post-mortem report, photo album and a report explaining what caused the death of the child.
Bentu also demanded that the NRH should be ordered to conduct DNA tests on her child, reveal the names of medical doctors or nurses who certified the child dead, and handwritten notes of the decision to that effect, amongst others.
Reading only the operative part of the urgent application judgement on Wednesday, Nyamadzabo said the matter qualified to be heard on urgency as the appellant had amply explained in her papers. He granted Bentu’s requests and awarded costs against the hospital.
Bentu’s harrowing ordeal with NRH started after she gave birth prematurely at NRH on October 11, 2016.
“…I do not know what happened after birth, save that I gave birth through a Caesarian operation. My child was transferred to Bokamoso Private Hospital without my knowledge under circumstances I cannot explain nor recall. NRH never told me about what caused the death of my child and till today, I am still waiting to bury my child in order to find closure,” Bentu said in her application.
After her successful application, Bentu showed Mmegi a document with a stamp from NRH showing that while the child was a male, the hospital said it was a female.
“A few weeks after I was discharged, a nurse from NRH contacted me by phone and told me to come and collect a female corpse at the hospital mortuary for burial. This confused me and compounded my pain because I have papers from NRH that show that my child was a boy and not a girl. I cannot bury a baby that is not mine, hence I want DNA tests to be conducted. This is utterly disgusting and disheartening and shows the extent to which NRH is prepared to hide its negligence,” Bentu said, tears welling up in her eyes.
Bentu said despite the pain she felt, some nurses at NRH did not care about her ordeal, hence she is going to institute a lawsuit against the hospital for negligence in the near future after consulting her attorney, Martin Dingake.
“I am waiting for the DNA tests and will take everything from there after burying my child.”