No relief and healing after three operations
A man from Springs Extension is frustrated with his medical condition because he cannot sue the doctor who caused all his hardship.
Colin Stewart (52) wants to sue a doctor of Far East Rand Hospital (FERH) for damaging his blood vessels during a cholesysectomy, a surgical procedure to remove the gallbladder and gallstones.
In June 2011 the procedure was done at the FERH after he was admitted with severe abdominal pain.
He thinks the doctor damaged some of his blood vessels during this operation, which caused that he bled internally.
He needed another operation in August and a laparomoty was performed, a procedure performed to examine the abdominal organs and to aid diagnosis, but the doctors found nothing.
Two days later Stewart was transferred to the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, still receiving units of blood.
He says a CT-scan was done, where he was diagnosed with aneurysms and internal bleeding.
Six days later he was transferred to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital where he was operated again to determine the cause of the bleeding.
After being operated on twice, he spent five days in ICU.
Since then he still experiences high levels of discomfort and has never fully recovered.
Up to now he could not find a lawyer to help him pursuing his claim against the doctor who did the first operation.
He filed a complaint at the health Professions Council of South Africa and hopes to claim back his income and suffering.
Since the first operation in June 2011, Stewart lost his job.
Due to his financial difficulty he also lost his house and has sold his furniture to survive.
n Hendrik Buda, spokesman for the FERH, says they are unable to make any comments in this matter.
