A 19 year-old mum who was left traumatised after giving birth to her baby boy’s severed head while the rest of his body remained trapped inside of her is now planning to sue the hospital after accusing doctors of medical negligence.
Kagiso Kgatla was six months pregnant when she suffered the botched delivery at Tambo Memorial Hospital, South Africa.Her baby boy was decapitated outside the womb and the body was left trapped inside Kagiso’s body for another 24 hours.
She told ENCA: “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 the head.”The body remained inside.”
Kagiso was told by doctors that her baby was likely to suffer from some abnormalities but she insisted on going ahead with the pregnancy.Hospital officials reportedly told Kagiso her baby had only a ‘very small chance’ of living.
Dr Gilbert Anyetei, head of obstetrics at the hospital, said: “Normally, when the head is not crowning we assist. We call it assisted delivery.”
“In this particular instance the head popped out on its own and we tried to see if the rest of the body would follow, but the rest of the body didn’t follow.”
The Gauteng health department has launched an investigation to what went wrong during the delivery.In March 2014, a Scotish woman suffered a botched delivery which her baby’s head was left inside her during labour at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Scotland.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service ruled that consultant gynaecologist Dr Vaishnavy Laxman made an error in not attempting the delivery by C-section.