A young South African mother is calling for justice after her new born baby was decapitated when she went to deliver at a local hospital.
Beheaded at birth: Young South African mother calls for justice
Local portal eNCA reported the story of Kagiso Kgatla, 19, on Monday as she narrated how what she says was medical negligence led to the gory incident.
Her ordeal happened last week after she visited the hospital having experienced abdominal pains. She was six months into the pregnancy and had been informed she was going to have an abnormal baby, something she said she was ready to handle.
In an interview with a reporter, a visibly distraught Kgatla said: “A doctor came and said I should push. I pushed and pushed, nothing. He inserted his hands and said I should try again but still there was nothing. He also said he could see the baby’s head.
“Then he asked for those big spoons. That’s when my baby’s head came out, but only head. The body remained inside,” she added.
The report added that Kgatla had demanded answers to why it took almost a day for the remaining part of the body to be removed. “They must tell me the truth about what happened to my child. If they must be jailed, they should, for what they have put me through,” she said.
But officials at the Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg insisted that the issues were well explained to her and that there was no case of negligence.
Dr Gilbert Anyetei, Head of Obsterics told eNCA: “In this particular instance because of abnormality of the spine, remember the head is anchored by the spine to the rest of your body.
“But because there was an abnormality, without even the doctors attempting to pull the head, the head just popped out on its own. So we tried to see if the rest of the body will follow, and unfortunately the rest of the body didn’t follow.”
The family meanwhile claims that the baby was eventually delivered in three parts, after the head, the hands followed before the remaining parts of the body was removed. The hospital defended its decision to opt for normal delivery instead of through the C-section.
Watch eNCA reporter’s account of the stroy
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