R6 MILLION PAYOUT FOR BARA HOSPITAL NEGLIGENCE

A Soweto mother has reportedly made a settlement with the Gauteng Health Department to receive a R6.1 million pay-out for brain damage to her daughter when she gave birth at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.

Ms Matshidiso Matlawa initially claimed R18 million in the North Gauteng High Court, but settled for R6.1 million for damage to her daughter Lethabo, who is now five years old with severe cerebral palsy due to lack of oxygen when she was born.

This tragic case is one of many negligence cases against Bara Hospital.

This hospital faces 86 medico-legal claims which total R420 million, the highest for all public hospitals in Gauteng.

Most of these claims (68) are for alleged brain damage at birth, for which an average amount of R5 million is claimed for each incident.

The Gauteng Health Department faces more than 1000 medico-legal claims in total that claim about R3.4 billion.

This tidal wave of claims is unfortunately going to cut heavily into the provincial health budget.

The quality of care needs to increase drastically, otherwise negligence cases will continue to rise.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, August 21 2014

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