Cape Town - [WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES] A Cape Town family have been left devastated after the loss of a relative which they claim to be due to hospital negligence.
The family of Arya Phillips, 82, from Kensington said they have been left traumatised by the treatment she received, and by her death.
Speaking to IOL, family spokesperson Ruwayda Gierdien said her aunt was admitted to New Somerset Hospital on Monday, October 10, after she had “chest problems” and had a seizure.
She said her aunt suffered from dementia, asthma and could not walk at all. However, when the family took her into the hospital she did not have a scratch on her.
The Western Cape Health Department has denied the family’s allegations of abuse and neglect as untrue and said Phillips, who was “physically frail”, had sustained her injuries “while in a disoriented state” due to her dementia.
Gierdien said while the family were not in denial about her aunt’s age or illnesses, they believed hospital negligence caused her aunt’s death on Sunday, October 16.
“On Tuesday, we got a call from a nurse who said my aunt had got injured. She had three stitches in her head. She had apparently jumped from the bed. This was strange as my aunt couldn’t walk at all.
“Hours later, we were called again to say she jumped from the bed and broke her arm and dislocated a shoulder.
“We were livid and said it’s impossible. She could barely walk, how could she jump from the bed? The first time could have been an accident, but both times? If she sustained a head injury the first time, why was she not being watched?”
Gierdien said the family rushed to the hospital to check on her aunt’s well-being and, when they got there, were horrified.
“When we got to the hospital we found her lying in her own urine and faeces and we washed her. Her clothes were still full of blood. We changed them. We still have those bloodied clothes. Those nurses allowed us to do it because they know they messed up,” Gierdien said.
She said at the time visible marks on her aunt’s body were a blue eye, blue marks on her arm and the fact her broken arm was in a sling.
Gierdien said the family visited the aunt again on Wednesday, and she was lying in severe pain.
It broke their hearts, she said.
“On Saturday, we visited my aunt again. She was in a worse state. She was laying on her back and was trying to say something with her eyes. She couldn’t speak. We left. About 20 minutes later we got a call to say my aunt took a turn for the worst,” she said.
Gierdien said the family went to visit her aunt on Sunday, October 16, and when her cousin tried tilting her mother she burst into tears.
“She tried placing a pillow behind her. She burst out crying and showed me. There were blue marks from my aunt’s back to her bum.
“We looked at my aunt in total shock, she closed her eyes and never opened them again,” she said, weeping.
Gierdien said the family had been left traumatised by the state her aunt’s body was in.
“God is the owner of life and death. We took her in flawless. We know she was sick and old, but what they did to her was unbearable. What they did to her, the blue marks, scars.
“When she was admitted she never had a scar on her body, and for her to be battered and bruised like that. She looked like she was brutally and physically assaulted.
“She looked like she was in a car accident or beaten by a gang.
“They killed my aunt,” she cried.
Gierdien said the family tried getting answers from the hospital about what happened to her aunt.
She said they asked for a report but were being sent from pillar to post.
“We wait for hours on the phone to speak to someone, and when we eventually get through we are told they are not the person to speak to. This is frustrating. We want the truth. We will not be leaving this.
“We are not in denial that my aunt could have lived for a year, but with the bruises and scars she had, nobody could have survived that at her age,” Gierdien said.
The family say they wanted answers but believed they wouldn’t get them as the hospital was “more powerful”.
According to the director of communications for the Western Cape Health Department, Mark van der Heever, the allegations of abuse and neglect were not true.
“We express our deepest condolences to the family on the passing of their loved one. However, following a thorough investigation, the allegations of abuse and negligence are untrue.
“Unfortunately, the patient, who was physically frail, sustained the injuries while in a disoriented state as they had dementia. When they wanted to move off the bed on their own, they were able to do so on two occasions. Unlike alleged, the patient did not throw themselves off the bed but fell off.
“The management of New Somerset hospital met with the family on Wednesday, October 12, where they, the head of nursing, medical and orthopaedic doctors explained the situation and addressed the family’s other concerns.
“They further advised that should they require additional feedback, they were encouraged to raise their concerns in writing with the hospital management so that they could be further investigated and addressed.
“The cause of death was unrelated to the above and rather was owing to underlying pre-existing medical conditions,” Van der Heever told IOL.
The Phillips family slammed the department for lying.
They asked if she were in a “disoriented state” as claimed, why she was not restrained to the bed after she hurt herself initially?
“Why are they lying like that? We still don’t know why she died because they cannot tell us. We know she had dementia and asthma and a lung problem. We took her in, she was speaking to us, she was normal, she was sane. We took her in, no bruises, scars.
“How can they justify her getting hurt a second time, breaking an arm and dislocating a shoulder, knowing she was ‘disorientated’ and fell the first time?
“What did they do to prevent a second fall?
“I am sick to my stomach. The lying! Nothing is going to happen to them. It’s going to happen over and over again. I know we are fighting a losing battle.
“The hospital never spoke to the family as they claim,” Gierdien told IOL.
She said the family did file a complaint and placed it into the complaints box.
The family said the only time they spoke to an orthopaedic specialist was when they were advised their aunt could not be operated on due to her age and illness.
Phillips was buried on Monday, October 17, according to Muslim rites, at the Mowbray maqbara.