Moorosi Tsiane
A Maseru woman has dragged Queen ’Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH) to the High Court, demanding M5 million in damages.
She accuses the country’s flagship referral hospital of medical negligence, alleging that staff failed to complete a sterilisation procedure intended to end her ability to bear children.
What was supposed to be a life-saving sterilisation, she claims, turned into a nightmare—one that ended with her falling pregnant again, becoming traumatised and returning to the operating table for yet another caesarean section.
According to court papers filed before the High Court, the Ha-Tsolo woman says she consented to sterilisation in 2022 after giving birth to her third child. She states she had been advised that another pregnancy would endanger her life because all her previous deliveries had been via caesarean section.
QMMH, Minister of Health Selibe Mochoboroane and Attorney General Rapelang Motsieloa KC are cited as first to third respondents in the matter.
“On the 14th day of February 2022, I was at Queen ’Mamohato Memorial Hospital to deliver a child. This was my third childbirth by caesarean section. I had previously been told that I was to give birth in this manner only three times as any further births would be dangerous to me and the child.
“Consequently, I was informed by the employees of the hospital that I was to be sterilized upon the birth of my third child and I duly consented to the sterilization,” she submits.
She claims that on the same day, an incision was performed for the birth of her third child, but it was later confirmed to have been unnecessary, causing her pain and suffering.
She further states that in October 2024, she missed her menstrual periods, and tests at QMMH confirmed she was pregnant.
“On the same day an incision was made to my stomach during the birth of my child which incision has been confirmed as not necessary for the birth of the child. The incision caused me unnecessary pain and suffering as yet another incision was made for the birth of the child.
“Sometime in October 2024, I realized that I had not been on my period for a number of months and for this reason, I went to see a doctor at Queen ’Mamohato Memorial Hospital where a pregnancy test was carried out and came out positive.”
She claims that upon delivering her fourth child, doctors informed her that only one side of her fallopian tubes had been sterilised, while the other had not—explaining how she fell pregnant despite believing she had undergone full sterilisation.
“On the 9th day of January 2025, I then gave birth to a child by way of caesarean section. The doctors who were operating me at the time informed me that they noticed that only one side of my fallopian tubes had been sterilized while the other had not and this explained why I fell pregnant even though I underwent the sterilization procedure,” she submits.
She is claiming M5 million for medical costs or medical negligence, hospital costs, pain and suffering, emotional distress, psychological trauma, and future costs for the care and upbringing of the child.