Hospital ‘failed’ to inform family, after patient’s death
The family only found out eight days later that beloved grandmother has died.
A Mamelodi family is distraught that they only found out eight days later that their beloved grandmother had died.
The hospital, however, says they tried contacting the family but their contact number wasn’t working.
Christina Chauke (70) was admitted to Mamelodi Day hospital on 27 April after she fell sick at her home in Mamelodi.
Chauke died the following day.
According to the family, Chauke’s sister drove with her to the hospital.
Upon arrival, she said, she personally filled in a register with all the information needed, including all contact details and addresses.
Later, her son Andrew Chauke (50) said he went to the hospital to visit her, but he was turned away because of the new Covid-19 regulations.
Andrew said he was told that families were not allowed to visit patients.
“I was told the hospital would be in touch with the family with the progress of the patient as well as when she will be discharged or if anything happens,” said Andrew.
“It never crossed my mind that my mother was already dead at the time of my visit.”
Andrew said he went home and told relatives what he had been told. The family then anxiously waited for a phone call from the hospital.
“The call never came and we were worried,” he said.
The family said they phoned the hospital again, but could not get any updates on her condition.
The family grew worried about her progress. Since the hospital has not yet contacted them, they asked a nurse close to the family who worked at the hospital to check on her.
Instead of good news, the nurse came back with the news that she had died.
“She told us my mother died the day after she was admitted,” Andrew told Record.
“It was a huge blow for all of us, we were left traumatised.”
Chauke’s cousin, Lele Duba (47), said they were surprised that the hospital didn’t contact them because they had the family’s contact details.
“An ambulance picked her up at her own home and an address and contact numbers were filled in in a register at the hospital,” she said.
“Why didn’t they look at the register for our details?”
Chauke’s family said “heads should roll” because the hospital didn’t comply with their own regulations by keeping them up-to-date.
“This causes unnecessary pain to families,” said Duba.
The family said they were considering legal action.
“We won’t leave this case lying,” Duba told Record.
“Someone must take responsibility for his or her actions.
“There should be an investigation. Those who are responsible should be disciplined.
“The hospital made several unsuccessful attempts to contact the family of the deceased from both the mortuary and the clinical team using contact details on the patient file,” said Gauteng Department of Health spokesperson Kwara Kekana.
The hospital reported that the contact number on the patient file was “not working”.
“The hospital concedes more effort could have been made to locate the family of the deceased. Corrective measures will be applied to ensure this does not happen again,” said Kekana.
Christina Chauke was buried on Tuesday morning.
The funeral was attended only by close family members because of Covid-19 measures to avoid the spread of the virus.
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