—-Latest suit reveals a disturbing pattern of negligence
Moorosi Tsiane
A MORIJA woman is suing Scott Hospital for M500 000 after claiming her infant child died due to the hospital’s “prolonged negligence”.
‘Mat?episo Mofokeng alleges that when she sought help at Scott Hospital earlier this year, she was ignored for four days despite experiencing heavy bleeding.
She says this neglect led to the tragic loss of her child.
Ms Mofokeng has thus filed a lawsuit demanding compensation for her loss, pain, and suffering.
Her court documents, filed on Friday, state that her ordeal began on 30 January 2025, when she was admitted to Scott Hospital.
She says nurses informed her that her baby was too small to be delivered and gave her pills and an injection to delay labour. This treatment continued the next day, even as her water broke and her bleeding worsened.
“The bleeding pressure increased rapidly, in response to this, Respondent (Scott Hospital) took me to scan. On the 1 February 2025, bleeding increased to an extend that I had to change the sanitary pad after every Five (5) minutes. Having given birth via Cesarean-Section before, I asked the Respondent to help me deliver through Caesarean Section, but the nurses did not entertain my request as they refused to do that. The bleeding did not stop but only got worse and this happened until 3 February 2025 in the morning when they took me to separate room and put me on the mattress,” Ms Mofokeng submits.
She claims that no one came to assist her until late in the evening, prompting her to find a nurse by herself. Surprisingly, the nurse reportedly reprimanded her and instructed her to go back to bed and replace her pad.
“I then remained in that room alone without having been attended by anyone the whole night wherein I bled until clots started coming out of my vagina. The following day being on the 4 February 2023 still no one came to check on me until after 9 am when I saw the nurse passing and I requested for a doctor. The doctor, upon being called by the nurse, came and examined me. Following the examination, the doctor told me that I had to be rushed to Tšepong (Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital) and I should inform my family,” she states.
But when Ms Mofokeng reached QMMH, it was already too late. The doctors informed her that her baby had passed away well before she got there and confirmed that the baby’s head had already emerged from her womb, resulting in a tear that put her life in severe jeopardy.
The doctor at Scott Hospital acknowledged that the baby had died earlier, a situation that Ms Mofokeng claims could have been prevented with timely medical intervention.
She asserts that she contacted the hospital manager on February 13 to report the negligence, and the manager recognized the hospital’s shortcomings, accepted responsibility, and expressed regret for the heartbreaking loss of her child.
Consequently, Ms Mofokeng is now seeking M500,000 for the loss of her baby and the emotional distress she has experienced.
This is not the first time Scott Hospital has been implicated in similar negligence. It was previously sued for M3 million by a Maseru woman who alleged she lost her baby in August 2020 to negligence by hospital staff.
‘Makananelo Tšoanyane from Semphetenyane informed the court that on August 20, 2020, she was admitted to Scott Hospital around 09:00 in the morning to give birth.
She said that despite the hospital staff being aware that this was her third Caesarean section, she was made to wait until midnight before being attended to by a single nurse.
The nurse was unable to deliver the baby, and when she requested help from one Dr Ramokuena, her baby had unfortunately died.
In another similar case, a Morija policewoman filed a lawsuit against the same hospital for an astonishing M10 million due to negligence that she claimed resulted in her suffering from incontinence for eight years.
Thakane Shea Mapeshoane, stationed at the Morija Police post, recounted in court paper how a failed C-section operation in 2015 at Scott Hospital had left her with a uterine or vaginal fistula.
In her legal documents submitted on 15 November 2023, Ms Mapeshoane detailed to the court the humiliation she endured from incontinence since 2015, following a failed C-section at Scott Hospital after the birth of her daughter.
Ms Mapeshoane said that she was finally able to receive assistance after the High Court mandated Scott Hospital to provide her with her medical records, enabling her referral to another medical facility.