Wrong opinion almost cost me my life

I was out on an audit in Nelspruit where a spider bit me in the face. Initially I did not make much of it as I thought its a shaving rash or something. A couple of days later I went to my GP who cut it open and informed me that it was a spider bite and gave me antibiotics as well as cream to put on the wound. (+- Saturday 14 April 2018 after return on 13 April 2018)

2 and a half weeks later, on Thursday, 3 May I went back to the GP (another one as my GP wasn't there) as I felt like I had a weird flu. Again I got antibiotics and took the Friday off from work.

On Saturday, 5 May 2018 my fever just did not want to break and my coughing would not stop. I was vomiting and blacking out at times. I decided to immediately go to Netcare Clinton Hospital's ER as Netcare Union Hospital's ER normally has a long queue in the waiting room.

Dr N Swart attended to my case. She was professional at all times and did all the basic checks such as blood pressure, breathing etc. She sent me for x-rays which showed that my chest was clear despite me hyperventilating at times. She also did blood test which indicated that I had high infection in my blood to which I disclosed to her the story about the bite. She concluded that it was a tick bite and discharged me at 14:00 the same day, despite my chest being very tight and me using the oxygen to assist breathing.

I went and got the medicine she prescribed and went home. At 20:30 that night things got really bad as I think my body went into some kind of shock. I have chronic asthma and have had asthma attacks before but this felt weird. Up to today I still don't have my full voice back after the whole ordeal of vomiting and coughing.

At about 02:00 the next morning of 6 May 2018 I asked a family member to take me back to ER as I couldn't drive myself. Dr MP Mashigo treated me and immediately put me back on oxygen and gave me a drip. A couple of hours later I found myself in ICU. I was moved to general ward on Tuesday, 8 May 2018 where Dr. A Kok and Dr Peya took care of me.

Just before I was discharged on Friday, 11 May 2018 I consulted with Dr Peya before my discharge whether or not I must lay a formal complaint against Dr. N Swart as her incorrect diagnosis could have cost me my life and that my voice is temporarily gone thanks to the vomiting and coughing following her discharging me.

But I think its better for me to put this out there in case her mistake costs somebody a life or something.

Apart from this bad experience I can definitely rate the hospital and the rest of the staff very well. They took care of me and the fellow patients and I can definitely rate Netcare Clinton Hospital right up there with the best Netcare Hospitals such as Rosebank, Garden City and Milpark.

Please feel free to call me however I recommend emails as my voice hasn't quite come back yet and if it frustrates my client it will most probably frustrate you as well.