PE mom 'kept from seeing baby'

2006-09-05 09:08

Norman Silke

Port Elizabeth - The HIV-positive woman who breastfed another woman's baby after the two babies were exchanged, apparently claimed she was the baby's mother.

Liezel Jacobs, 18, who gave birth to a healthy baby girl in the Dora Nginza Hospital on Thursday, said a doctor told her on Saturday that the name tag of her first-born could possibly have been exchanged with that of another baby.

The baby was accidentally breastfed by the wrong woman and Jacobs was worried that her baby could have been infected with HIV.

Die Burger accompanied Jacobs' sister, Heidi Smith, and her aunt and legal guardian, Jeannie Jass, to the hospital.

'Closer to another woman'

A tearful Jacobs said the nurses would not let her visit the nursery to go and look at her baby.

"They said I must not establish a bond with my baby, because she had already been fed by the other woman and was closer to her."

The CEO of the Port Elizabeth Hospital complex, Dr Lulamile JamJam, confirmed he was waiting for a comprehensive report about the incident before commenting further.

The report will be compiled and submitted to the hospital's medical superintendent, Dr Aydin Vehbi.

Shortly afterwards Jass went into the ward and insisted on seeing the baby.

She said Jacobs' baby was still wearing a name tag with the other woman's name on it.

Jacobs said she saw her baby in theatre, shortly after the C-section, and she knew how her child looked.

"The child has a very light complexion, while the other baby, in the same ward, is black.

Smith says the initial HIV-tests showed the one baby was negative and the other positive.

Smith said: "The doctor has acknowledged that he knows the one who tested negative is my sister's baby, but blood tests have to be done."

The family said blood samples of the baby, and the two women, will be sent to Pretoria on Tuesday for further HIV- and also DNA tests.

Jass said the results will be available only in 10 days time and both mothers and babies will remain in hospital.

An unexpected helping hand appeared shortly before visiting time was over.

An attorney of the firm Ludik & Booysen in Pretoria, Ruann Kruger, flew to Port Elizabeth to offer free legal representation to Jacobs should she decide to sue the hospital.

The Eastern Cape spokesperson of the Treatment Action Campaign, Phillip Mokoena, said the incident shocked him and the absence of a sense of responsibility among health workers was above his comprehension.

Mokoena said the problem was the result of too many patients and a shortage of medical personnel.

- Die Burger