'Depressed' new mother escapes marina, commits suicide

GREG KELEBONYE
Staff Writer | Thursday January 7, 2010 00:00

 

*Deceased woman's sister sees her hanging from tree
*Investigations afoot

A Thamaga family is mourning the death of their daughter following an apparent suicide, which they believe could have been prevented, had staff at the Princess Marina Hospital not been negligent. Thirty-three year-old Keabonye Mojuta a patient suspected of having post-partum depression was found hanging at the Gaborone Secondary School (GSS) grounds - a stone's throw from the hospital. A passer-by saw the body just before 0900 hours on the second of January. Worse, her sister, Keafiwa saw her corpse hanging from the suicide tree, as curious passersby converged at the scene. She had shortly before then heard people in the combi she was traveling in talking about some woman who had hanged herself by the GSS grounds. Keabonye's family have blamed the death of their daughter on the hospital staff who they say failed to take necessary preventive steps, while they were aware that the deceased was suicidal.

'On the evening of December 27, my sister sent me an SMS telling me that she would be departing and that I should take care of her children. As that was a strange message my other sister and I got worried and we decided to immediately visit our younger sister at the hospital to understand the meaning of her message and stop whatever plan she intended,' Keafiwa told Mmegi.

Once at the hospital the two sisters approached the maternity ward duty nurse  (whose name this paper has) whom they informed about the strange message from their sister.'Even at that time, my sister was not at her bed, and had not gone to feed her baby. She was instead crouching away at one of the corners within the ward - and it took some time before the nurse could locate her. The nurse gave some basic counseling and promised to refer my sister to the social workers, but that never happened, at least according to the report that the same nurse gave to me when I came to officially identify my sister's corpse,' said a tearful Keafiwa. The nurse had apparently abandoned any report writing or referral of the patient for counseling services after the patient had gone to her and convinced her that it was not necessary.

' What surprised us was the fact that my sister had clearly shown some mental instability or confusion and the nurse was well aware of that. If anything the nurse should have insured that there was a full watch over my sister. '

Keafiwa also said that one of the nurses at the maternity wing where her sister had been admitted told her that her sister had insisted upon the nurses giving her some sleeping tablet, but they had refused as the time was not due for her to take the medicine. That, according to Keafiwa should have reminded the nurses about the condition of her sister.

A nurse at the hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity said the woman may have been suffering from posts-partum blues, in which case she would not only have been a danger to herself, but also to the baby.

'Maternal nurses and doctors should be able to diagnose the condition and provide necessary treatment or referral.' Said the nurse.

Princess Marina Hospital Superintendent Dr.  Chiapo Lesetedi said his management was aware of the situation and was investigating.

' As a hospital we take suicide notes seriously and have in place systems to have relevant people attend to the patient once we realize that the patient is suicidal. In as much as it was a long weekend, there were managers working and those would have people responsible for ensuring that the right thing is done.

After receiving the report we instituted investigations at the ward. Should our investigation confirm that there was negligence by our staff, we will take appropriate action,' he said.

Central Police Station Commander Superintendent Tshepo Ntaya confirmed the suicide.' The deceased hails from Thamaga and was found hanging from a tree at the GSS grounds. Our investigations later showed that she was a patient at the hospital,' said Ntaya.

Asked if the hospital had raised a missing and suicidal person's report prior to the discovery of the body, Ntaya said no such report was made.

'In fact, the hospital only got to know from us that their patient had committed suicide on the school sport grounds,' he said.