Health ministry settles multimillion-dollar negligence suit
The ministry of health has settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed sum brought by a woman who accused a Windhoek state hospital doctor of gross negligence that led to her infant son’s death and her permanent disfigurement.
While the settlement agreement details have not yet been made public or made an order of the court, Selma Uukule’s lawyers on Monday said the document was being signed to be presented to court within the next three weeks.
“Settlement negotiations between the parties have been successful,” the court was informed in a joint status update filed by Uukule’s legal team from the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) and state lawyers.
Uukule sued the ministry in April 2021 for N$2.7 million in damages following a traumatic delivery and the death of her son in May 2018, and the sepsis she developed in the aftermath.
She asked the court to award her N$800 000 in damages for the “disfigurement of her stomach, including costs for future corrective plastic surgery”, N$1 million for emotional and psychological shock and trauma, N$900 000 for pain and suffering and N$5 000 for funeral expenses.
Court papers filed last year alleged that after presenting to the Windhoek Central Hospital maternity ward in the early stages of labour, a senior doctor noticed that Uukule’s child was in distress, and instructed another less senior doctor, listed in court papers, to prepare the patient for an emergency caesarean section while he attended to another emergency surgery.
He informed the medical team he would return promptly after his next surgery.
Ignored
However, according to court documents, the junior doctor did not follow instructions. “She continued with her own efforts to have the plaintiff give birth naturally.”
It is alleged that the doctor “forcefully used different types of forceps to pull the baby from the plaintiff’s vagina... After failing to pull the baby out, she then decided to cut the plaintiff’s vagina hoping that the baby’s head could pass. There was blood all over the place where the plaintiff was.”
When the senior physician returned, he found Uukule lying in a “pool of blood with the doctor standing over her. He immediately ordered the plaintiff to be taken to theatre as per his previous instruction,” the court was informed.
Uukule’s son was delivered at 13:05 but died shortly afterwards due to the complications during birth.
Nightmare continues
Uukule was released from hospital on 1 June, despite allegedly still complaining about stomach pain. She alleged in court documents that her request for a sonar scan “fell on deaf ears”.
On 5 June 2018, a doctor at a Khomasdal clinic - where she had gone after her symptoms worsened - called an ambulance to send her to hospital due to the seriousness of her condition.
After she was taken for emergency surgery, she was informed she had developed sepsis, and as a result, the doctor had to cut out “a portion of Uukule’s stomach” to remove damaged tissue.
Uukule’s lawsuit claimed that the doctor who did not follow the senior physician’s instructions was negligent, and unlawfully and forcefully tried to pull the baby from her body “for a prolonged period of time without any regard for human life”.
Moreover, that the doctor “intentionally physically assaulted” the unborn child with the forceps, as well as the mother. The doctor also “generally failed to manage the deceased’s medical condition, which caused the death of the minor child and serious medical complications to the plaintiff”.
Uukule argued that the doctor was guilty of medical negligence which resulted in the “gruesome death of the minor child”.
Denied
In its filings, the health ministry denied any wrongdoing in the matter. The State alleged that Uukule was fully prepared for theatre after doctors ordered that a caesarean be performed. However, Uukule herself asked whether she could “once again try to push”.
Further, that the doctor on duty offered to assist with the delivery, and conducted an episiotomy, which involves the cutting of the vagina to enable delivery.
It is further alleged that forceps were applied to further assist with the delivery, but that Uukule “did not want to push any more and gave up”. Following her “refusal to push”, the forceps were removed, and she was “rushed to theatre”.
The defendants also denied that negligence was involved in the sepsis that followed, and that Uukule was carefully monitored during the rest of her stay in hospital and no signs of infection were noted during that time.
On Monday, High Court judge Esi Schimming-Chase postponed the case to 4 April.
While the settlement agreement details have not yet been made public or made an order of the court, Selma Uukule’s lawyers on Monday said the document was being signed to be presented to court within the next three weeks.
“Settlement negotiations between the parties have been successful,” the court was informed in a joint status update filed by Uukule’s legal team from the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) and state lawyers.
Uukule sued the ministry in April 2021 for N$2.7 million in damages following a traumatic delivery and the death of her son in May 2018, and the sepsis she developed in the aftermath.
She asked the court to award her N$800 000 in damages for the “disfigurement of her stomach, including costs for future corrective plastic surgery”, N$1 million for emotional and psychological shock and trauma, N$900 000 for pain and suffering and N$5 000 for funeral expenses.
Court papers filed last year alleged that after presenting to the Windhoek Central Hospital maternity ward in the early stages of labour, a senior doctor noticed that Uukule’s child was in distress, and instructed another less senior doctor, listed in court papers, to prepare the patient for an emergency caesarean section while he attended to another emergency surgery.
He informed the medical team he would return promptly after his next surgery.
Ignored
However, according to court documents, the junior doctor did not follow instructions. “She continued with her own efforts to have the plaintiff give birth naturally.”
It is alleged that the doctor “forcefully used different types of forceps to pull the baby from the plaintiff’s vagina... After failing to pull the baby out, she then decided to cut the plaintiff’s vagina hoping that the baby’s head could pass. There was blood all over the place where the plaintiff was.”
When the senior physician returned, he found Uukule lying in a “pool of blood with the doctor standing over her. He immediately ordered the plaintiff to be taken to theatre as per his previous instruction,” the court was informed.
Uukule’s son was delivered at 13:05 but died shortly afterwards due to the complications during birth.
Nightmare continues
Uukule was released from hospital on 1 June, despite allegedly still complaining about stomach pain. She alleged in court documents that her request for a sonar scan “fell on deaf ears”.
On 5 June 2018, a doctor at a Khomasdal clinic - where she had gone after her symptoms worsened - called an ambulance to send her to hospital due to the seriousness of her condition.
After she was taken for emergency surgery, she was informed she had developed sepsis, and as a result, the doctor had to cut out “a portion of Uukule’s stomach” to remove damaged tissue.
Uukule’s lawsuit claimed that the doctor who did not follow the senior physician’s instructions was negligent, and unlawfully and forcefully tried to pull the baby from her body “for a prolonged period of time without any regard for human life”.
Moreover, that the doctor “intentionally physically assaulted” the unborn child with the forceps, as well as the mother. The doctor also “generally failed to manage the deceased’s medical condition, which caused the death of the minor child and serious medical complications to the plaintiff”.
Uukule argued that the doctor was guilty of medical negligence which resulted in the “gruesome death of the minor child”.
Denied
In its filings, the health ministry denied any wrongdoing in the matter. The State alleged that Uukule was fully prepared for theatre after doctors ordered that a caesarean be performed. However, Uukule herself asked whether she could “once again try to push”.
Further, that the doctor on duty offered to assist with the delivery, and conducted an episiotomy, which involves the cutting of the vagina to enable delivery.
It is further alleged that forceps were applied to further assist with the delivery, but that Uukule “did not want to push any more and gave up”. Following her “refusal to push”, the forceps were removed, and she was “rushed to theatre”.
The defendants also denied that negligence was involved in the sepsis that followed, and that Uukule was carefully monitored during the rest of her stay in hospital and no signs of infection were noted during that time.
On Monday, High Court judge Esi Schimming-Chase postponed the case to 4 April.
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