A Mitchells Plain teen mom says “inhumane treatment” at two local hospitals resulted in the death of her baby.
The 19-year-old, who asked not to be named, says she went to the Mitchells Plain Midwife Obstetrics Unit (MOU) in Beacon Valley on 11 June at 10.20am, expecting to give birth to her first child, but it ended in a nightmare.
“A male student nurse checked my vitals and said I was fine but when he went to a nurse, she shouted, ‘sê sy moet net wag’. I only got a bed at 4pm.”
The teen says the pressure of her vomiting broke her water but she got no help until she was told to stand up and walk to another ward.
“When I was on the bed, the nurses told me to sit with my legs spread but leaning forward, so that I can push the baby out, but I was so weak and they were so rude that I did not feel comfortable.
“The nurse then told me that I was only 4cm dilated and that I must walk around to induce the labour.
“I was too tired to push and the baby’s head was stuck but they just kept shouting at me and saying I must not make a noise, so I kept my mouth closed.
“One nurse was shouting to me that I must keep my mask on because a lot of nurses died of Covid.”
The meisie says at 2am, the nurses told her she must be taken to Lentegeur Hospital because they needed to suck the baby out, and she was forced to walk to the ambulance, which only arrived at 3.10am.
She says at Lentegeur Hospital, she was told that she was “just another naughty teen” having a baby and after struggling to give birth, she was anaesthetised for a C-section.
“I woke up in Groote Schuur Hospital and was told that I was airlifted there and that my son was dead.
“We heard later from the doctor that I had two convulsions while at the MOU and at Groote Schuur but the cause of my son’s death was unknown.
“I was only discharged from Groote Schuur on 17 June.
“If I knew they would treat me like that, I could have Googled how to give birth and just done it at home, then my baby would be alive,” the hartseer young mom says.
Mark van der Heever, spokesperson for Western Cape Health, did not want to comment on the matter, only saying that it was being investigated.