A newborn baby had her leg amputated after nurses ignored her mother’s call for help for 11 days.
The amputation was done at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals after nurses and doctors concluded that the baby’s leg was rotten.
So dire was the situation that nurses labelled the mother of the child a “troublesome parent” after she consistently raised the alarm concerning her baby’s situation.
The mother of the minor Tiny Masvaure is now suing the nurses seeking justice for the unfortunate incident a year since it occurred, New Zimbabwe reports.
Masvaure through the human rights lawyers has since written to the hospital demanding hospital records of the baby.
Her lawyer Paida Saurombe also said they intend to sue the top referral hospital.
Circumstances are that the baby was born on December 23, 2020 at Mbuya Nehanda maternity hospital which is under Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.
Masvaure gave birth at 34 weeks due to her asthmatic condition which led her to have breathing difficulties.
The hospital staff said the baby was healthy but she needed to gain more weight from her birth weight of 1,535 kgs before she could be discharged because she was considered a preterm baby.
The nurses also advised her that her baby would be placed on antibiotics to prevent infections.
Further allegations are that the baby’s hand started swelling after two days because of a cannula was put on it.
Nurses ignored Masvaure when she initially alerted them. On January 8, the cannula had to be removed and put on the leg after the hand had gone bad.
Again, after some hours, the leg started swelling.
She alerted the nurses who reportedly told her that the swelling was normal before labelling her a “troublesome parent”.
It is further alleged that the swelling worsened until the baby’s leg changed its colour and became cold.
The leg was then amputated on 19 January 2021 because according to hospital staff, it was rotten.
Masvaure and her baby then stayed in the hospital for three months.
It has also been alleged that the hospital made verbal admissions to Masvaure that negligence by its staff had caused her baby’s leg to rot and be amputated.
There were also overtures made to Masvaure to remedy her daughter’s unfortunate situation.
However, nothing materialised, instead, Masvaure keeps receiving notifications of outstanding debt for her daughter’s treatment
