No hope for Helen Joseph

Anonymous writes:

After reading the horror stories that have happened I would also like to come forward.

A few years ago my brother, a diabetic, would go to Helen Joseph for his checkups and medication.

He was very ill as he could not get his sugar levels under control. He went to the diabetic clinic and they turned him away as it was not his day to come for his check-up!

I then called the CEO and spoke to his PA explaining the seriousness of the matter. The CEO then called me back and organised for my brother to come to another entrance to receive treatment.

They then saw him and immediately admitted him. After three hours of lying on a bed in the passage, cold and ill, I have to call the CEO again as no-one was tending to him. Again with intervention he was placed in a ward – on the floor.

While he was there they brought in another man with an injured toe and gave him a bed. Yet my brother was ill and on the floor. Again I made the call to the CEO and finally he was in a bed.

Now they did not treat him, however. He suffered a stroke due to his sugar levels and elevated blood pressure.

We decided to take him to Dr Joseph Dadoo hospital in Krugersdorp for further treatment.

Helen Joseph caused my brother to have a stroke which is even worse for diabetics. He lost all feeling from the waist down and could not walk or control his bowel movements. Devastating for a man barely in his 30s.

Dr Joseph Dadoo Hospital treated him as best they could, but the damage was already done due to uncaring doctors and nurses at Helen Joseph. My brothers body over the next two months slowly deteriorated and he finally passed away.

Thanks to the CEO at that time who assisted when he knew of the problems – but why should you complain to get service and treatment?

My brother’s life was cut short due to hospital staff negligence. In fact, my mother has lost three children due to negligence at government hospitals.

The first, my baby brother who was a day old – an intoxicated nurse dropped him on his head. The second, my oldest sister (14) – an IV full of air thanks to a medical student. She went into cardiac arrest, then a coma and then died. And now my brother.

My mother went to Cape Town and receives treatment at Tygerberg. She does not trust any other government hospital. She has always cared for others and neglected her own pains, but now it is too late. Her diagnosis…. She will be paralysed in a few months due to a splinter in her spinal column that they said can’t be operated on.