Young South African Mother Accuses Hospital of Medical Negligence in Baby's Death

The birth of a first child is supposed to usher in a celebratory atmosphere, bringing joy and profound happiness to not only the mother but also the entire family. Unfortunately, this is not the case for one young South African mother, Kagiso Kgatla, 19, who is grief-stricken after what was meant to be a normal child delivery went horribly wrong. A veil of sadness adorns the young's mother's face who is now calling for justice in what she says was medical negligence that led to the decapitation of her newborn baby during delivery at Tambo Memorial hospital.

Her ordeal began last week after she visited the hospital having experienced abdominal pains. She had previously gone to a local hospital where the General Practitioner had taken scans and informed her that scan indicated that there was a problem with her baby. The GP advised her to go to the Memorial hospital for further tests. When she went to Tambo Memorial Hospital, they did a scan and found out that the baby was growing abnormally. Kagiso said she was ready to handle it as there are many mothers who have given birth to children with special needs and manage to cope.

The doctors informed her that she would have a premature delivery. Nonetheless, the doctors could still hear the baby's heartbeat and according to Kagiso Kgatla, she could feel the baby kicking.

Speaking to local portal eNCA who first broke the story, a visibly shaken Kagiso Kgatla narrated her ordeal. In an interview with ENCA reporter she said:

A doctor came and said I should push. I pushed and pushed, nothing. He inserted his hands and said I should try again but still there was nothing. He also said he could see the baby’s head. Then he asked for those big spoons [forceps]. That’s when my baby’s head came out, but only head. The body remained inside."

Kagiso Kgatla had demanded answers to why it took 24 hours for the remaining part of the body to be removed. She said:

They must tell me the truth about what happened to my child. If they must be jailed, they should, for what they have put me through."

Officials at the Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg, however, insisted that the issues were well explained to her and that there was no case of medical negligence.

In denying that the head of the baby was forced out in any way, shape or form, Dr. Gilbert Anyetei, Head of Obstetrics told eNCA:

In this particular instance because of abnormality of the spine, remember the head is anchored by the spine to the rest of your body. But because there was an abnormality, without even the doctors attempting to pull the head, the head just popped out on its own. So we tried to see if the rest of the body will follow, and unfortunately the rest of the body didn’t follow.... The head just popped out. We had problems trying to get the rest of the body out so we had to take her to theatre to deliver the rest of the body."

The family meanwhile claims that the baby was eventually delivered in three parts, after the head, the hands followed before the remaining parts of the body was removed. The hospital defended its decision to opt for normal delivery instead of an emergency C-section.