Cape Town – A Mpumalanga woman, Nontobeko Shongwe, 21, is reportedly suing the Gauteng Department of Health for R50 million after a surgeon at Steve Biko Academic Hospital allegedly amputated her left leg without her knowledge last year.
According to IOL, Shongwe experienced pain in her knee. She went in and out of hospitals in the province last year before being told that she had cancer called Synovial Sarcoma, at Barberton Hospital, in Mpumalanga.
She was transferred to Rob Ferreira Hospital, also in Mpumalanga for more tests. After that, she was referred to the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Gauteng where she had surgery.
“On November 17 the operation started at 12pm, but when I woke up my left leg had been amputated. I was devastated because it’s not what I had expected … and I had not received any information prior to or after the operation as to why my leg was amputated,” the report quoted Shongwe as saying.
ALSO READ: Cop who shot and killed Tembisa Hospital nurse is awake, Ipid says
It was only on November 26 that the doctor, who allegedly performed the surgery on Shongwe, told her that he accidentally cut off the veins that supplied blood and as a result, there was excessive loss of blood. He allegedly said that he then took a professional decision to amputate the leg to save her life.
The Southern African said that the highly traumatic ordeal left the young woman “shell-shocked, and understandably, she struggled to complete her studies and ultimately missed out on a place at university as a result”.
Shongwe had wanted to write her 2021 matric supplementary exam, with a dream to pursue accounting and auditing studies at a higher education institution.
Shongwe’s lawyer Godrich Gardee, who’s also the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) head of international relations, reportedly accused the doctor of displaying “reckless professional conduct” and “gross negligence”.
“In the circumstances of the exposition, it is clear there is an admission by the doctor of gross negligence and reckless medical professional conduct. All of these things considered, we are instructed to demand R50 million in respect of compensation for general and special damages,” the report quoted Gardee as saying.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Picture: Pexels
Compiled by Sinothando Siyolo
