Dad claims R5m after son's arm amputated

The cast used to set his son’s broken arm was too tight, says a father who is now claiming damages from the Limpopo Health MEC.

Pretoria - McDonald Lephale was in Grade 3 when he broke his arm playing soccer with his friends.

Now, three years later, his father is claiming more than R5 million in damages from the Limpopo MEC for Health, arguing that the cast used to set his arm had been too tight, and he developed gangrene and had to have his arm amputated.

The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, has been told of the excruciating pain McDonald, now 11, suffered after the accident when he fell on his arm, and his treatment at the Botlokwa Hospital in the province.

His arm was placed in plaster of Paris and he was sent to a ward for observation. According to papers filed in court, he was in such pain he kept crying.

The following morning, a doctor removed the cast and created a new longer cast for his arm. He was then discharged.

But the pain and swelling of his arm increased and his family took him back to hospital a few days later.

His wounds were dressed and he was discharged again.

A doctor later diagnosed the so-called compartment syndrome, where the cast caused a restriction of blood flow and severe pressure on the tissue. This resulted in muscle and nerve damage to his arm.

Ten days after he broke his arm, it was decided to transfer McDonald to the Polokwane Provincial Hospital where he remained for two months before it was decided to amputate his arm above the elbow because he had developed gangrene in his forearm and hand.

McDonald is awaiting a prosthesis.

According to a medical report handed to court, management of the child at the hospital had been substandard.

This was especially due to the tight cast and the fact that he received no specific treatment when he developed compartmental syndrome.

One expert referred to the lack of adequate treatment as unacceptable.

An orthopaedic surgeon, who also issued a report, said the child should not have been discharged from hospital when he complained about his arm being painful, and if it appeared to have been swollen.

“It is unimaginable how much pain this poor kid went through after the fracture had been internally fixed and when he developed compartmental syndrome,” the specialist stated.

He said very little was done for the boy, apart from dressing his wounds.

According to the specialist, the pain must have increased as gangrene set in.

The MEC, in denying liability, said they would later fully respond to the allegations in their papers filed at court.

It was made clear at this stage that the health authorities maintained that the doctors and nurses were not negligent in any manner.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

Pretoria News