On Monday night, a 22-year-old woman had to sit for hours in the casualty department of Rob Ferreira Hospital, holding onto her dead baby who was hanging out between her legs.

The foetus had developed to 20 weeks and four days.

Only after a security guard at the hospital had intervened, shouting at nursing staff to urgently treat Chrizelle Ruppersburg, did she receive medical attention.

Divan Lubbe (21), Ruppersburg’s fiancé, said their “trip through hell” had started on December 19 when she started bleeding.

“Two weeks earlier we found out that she was pregnant. At around midnight, I rushed her to the hospital due to the severe pain she was experiencing,” said Lubbe.

A gynaecologist examined her and put her on a drip due to blood loss. He then informed her that she had had a miscarriage.

She was taken to theatre where they performed a womb cleanse. This is the process of cleaning out any tissue from the uterus, usually common after a woman has had a miscarriage.

“By 08:00, she was discharged with a handful of Panado tablets,” said Lubbe.

During December, they visited family in Rustenburg where she went to a clinic to have a contraceptive injection.

In February, she went to a local pharmacy for a follow-up injection. It was then that she was informed she was pregnant. Blood tests they had done confirmed her condition.

“How could it be possible that she was still pregnant after she had had a womb cleanse? This is just due to negligence of the doctors at Rob Ferreira,” Lubbe told Lowvelder this week.

Shortly afterwards she started bleeding. Once again, they visited the hospital. She was given a drip and a sonar was done. The gynaecologist told her that she and the baby were fine.

Last Wednesday, she went to the provincial clinic in Bell Street for a check-up. She was told all was well.

On Friday she started bleeding again and visited a pharmacy where she had a sonar. She was told that the baby’s heartbeat was strong.

“On Monday afternoon, she experienced severe pain and cramps. It felt like she was having contractions. At around 21:30, we decided to take her to hospital again.

“While we were preparing for the trip, her water broke. The baby started coming out of the womb.  “I called the provincial ambulance service, but the phone wasn’t answered,” said Lubbe.

By the time he had managed to get her into his car, the baby was already hanging out between her legs, and she had to hold onto it.  At the hospital he pushed her into the casualty department in a wheelchair, but nobody attended to her despite the medical crisis she was experiencing.

“They were busy treating other patients and we had to wait. In the meantime, she was still bleeding and hanging onto the foetus. At that time, we knew our baby was dead.”

It was then that a security guard shouted at the nursing staff to help Ruppersburg. It was around 03:00 on Tuesday morning when she was eventually attended to by the gynaecologist.

He put her on a drip and one of the nursing staff wrapped the foetus in a towel and put it on the bed at her feet. She was taken to theatre where she once again had a womb cleanse and a scrape.

“One of the most shocking and heartbreaking things was that when she was discharged, a nurse asked us if we wanted to take the foetus with us!” said Lubbe.

Ruppersburg is currently recovering at home.

“What we don’t understand is how she could still be pregnant after she had had a miscarriage in December. We suspect that she might have been pregnant with twins and that the doctors didn’t pick it up during the operation.”

The matter was brought to the attention of the Department of Health for comment. By the time of going to press it had not responded yet.