Health dept to probe case of 84-year-old restrained to Pretoria hospital bed
“Abram Holtzhausen's hands were tied so tightly to his bed at the Tshwane district hospital that they turned purple and bloody."
An 84-year-old man was left with visible dark red and purple bruises on his arms as a result of allegedly being tightly restrained to a Pretoria hospital bed recently.
The national health department on Wednesday said it would authorise a probe into Abram Holtzhauzen allegedly being tied to a hospital bed in the inner city of Pretoria and forced to endure the cold winter breeze with limited movement.
According to Abram’s daughter, he was restrained due to his repeated stints of pulling out his catheter.
Rea Thusa /We Help CEO spokesperson Virginia Young said the organisation was appalled at the treatment of Abram Holtzhauzen at the Tshwane district hospital in Pretoria recently.
Young said the elderly man was discharged last week after he was found forcefully bound to his bed at the hospital.
“Holtzhausen’s hands were tied so tightly to his bed that they turned purple and bloody.
“His legs were also tied and he was left on a bed near an open window with the cold wind blowing over him,” according to Young.
She said when the man’s daughter, Magda visited him in hospital, he was unfed and freezing.
Magda said he had not even been provided with a blanket to cover himself.
“My father’s feet were cold. His food was left there and he couldn’t even feed himself or drink water because his hands were tied,” alleged Magda.
“He struggled to breathe and kept coughing because they made him lie flat on his back.
“I asked the nurse to loosen it [restraints] a bit and she was unable.”
She said that from the moment her father got to the hospital, he was treated badly and was injured and tied up in the ward.
The elderly man was initially hospitalised due to blood pressure.
“I forced my father out of the district hospital and took him to Steve Biko [hospital],” said Magda, adding that he had been admitted to the district hospital on July 12.
The Gauteng Department of Health is yet to respond to Rekord enquiries.
The national department spokesperson Foster Mohale said: “The matter has been noted and authorities at the health facility will investigate”.
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