Complaint

I have a complaint regarding the hospital and staff at Randfontein Lenmed. I have already forwarded it to our attorney to advise on possible legal proceedings and lodge a complaint with the health ombudsman if the complaint is suitable for their criteria.

The child was completely fine and healthy when he came out of the theatre and in delivery room 1, I was there with him for a while once I was shown out of the operating room to where he was. I believe the doctor can agree that he was in a healthy state.

I left to get something to eat at the cafeteria and was away for maybe 20 minutes. I went back to my wife's room to see if she was checked back in there, both she and the child were there.

The child was grunting, like he was struggling to breathe. I saw a bottle of milk on the table and asked the nurse which formula she gave him as we did bring formula for him, as I myself and another child of mine are allergic to most baby formula. I told her, we had a formula with us and that is the formula he will be taking since my wife might or might not produce enough milk naturally, she told me she couldn't use our formula and only the formula that the hospital pharmacy stocks and she will check if they have the same formula, else order it in. However last year, the hospital did not have an issue with us providing our own formula.

The nurse took the child to delivery room 2 to give him oxygen and warm him up, while they were waiting for the paediatrician to come by and I were told by the nurse the child might have respiratory distress.

Once the paediatrician was there, she told me that the child would need to be admitted to ICU / High care. At the reception I was assisted with 2 quotes, one was for the worst-case scenario and another was quoted for less. They agreed I pay a deposit to have the child admitted and the account will be reviewed within this week.

The paediatrician accompanied me to ICU / High care to see the child. I explained to her the allergies that could been shared and the baby formula we bought with us, she told me our formula could be used and notified the nurse to retrieve the formula from my wife's room.

I asked her if the child would survive and the answer was he is critical.

I strongly believe it is an allergic reaction to the formula that was given, as the child was fine up until the nurse gave him formula and argued that our formula could not be used, yet the paediatrician advised that our formula could be used, and it was also not an issue the previous year. Yet, now I have to pay for the mistake/negligence that happened at the hospital and there is no confidence that the child might survive, as the answer was only he is critical and what might or might not be the cause as there seems to be uncer*****y from the paediatrician what the actual cause might be, thus speculating until further tests can be done.

My wife notified me at about 18h00 that the doctor checked in with her and also advised her that the pediatrician's test came back and the baby is doing well, which makes the formula that was given to him by the nurse probable to have caused the respiratory issue.

My wife notified me at about 20h00 they advised her when she went the second time to see him, it was added to his file that only the formula we provide are to be fed to him. Which is now conflicting information even more as the nurse told us, our formula is not allowed at all. As my wife was advised the tests came back fine, it leaves that cause by elimination of the other possible causes, and tests to prove my concern are to be done. The main issue is, the nurse was not cooperative and gave conflicting information, in the end what we requested was done, but only after the child was suffering from the nurse's decision not to take it under advi*****t. As per my wife, the condition of the child now, is world's apart from what he was at that moment and is now described as per the way I last saw him in the delivery room, healthy.

I will be contacting news outlets and will be corresponding with them for a publication of this incident, thus also strongly consider proceeding legally on feedback received from our attorney.