Blind girl gets R7.3m damages
2008-06-05 08:00
Pretoria - A three-year-old girl who went blind after birth because of negligent neo-natal treatment at 1 Military Hospital in Thaba Tshwane, Pretoria, will receive millions of rands in damages from the State.
Pretoria High Court ordered that the Minister of Defence pay about R7.3m in damages to the parents of Rochelle Jordaan of Witbank.
Rochelle's father, Jaco, 36, said outside the court after the damages was awarded: "It doesn't restore her sight, but it improves her future."
Rochelle attended the hearing with her parents.
Jaco had been a lieutenant in the air force at the time of his daughter's premature birth.
He is now an environmental manager and his wife, Antoinette, 23, owns a beauty and hair salon in Witbank.
Rochelle was born at 27 weeks in October 2004 at 1 Military Hospital and weighed only 970g.
Will need a lot of special care
The court found that the oxygen supply to Rochelle's incubator had not been carefully regulated.
She had had too much oxygen and her eyes could not develop properly.
Jaco said: "She'll need a lot of special care in the future and now, hopefully, we'll be able to provide it for her."
"All that we want to do is to give Rochelle a comfortable life."
The Jordaans' lawyer, Gert Nel, said the amount of R7.3m consisted largely of Rochelle's expected future medical expenses and her estimated future lack of income.
The court found that if the hospital personnel had not been negligent, Rochelle probably would have been able to complete her schooling up to Grade 12.
After that, she probably would have done a four-year degree at a tertiary institution.
Her loss of sight meant that she would probably only be able to progress up to matric.
Jaco and Antoinette would each receive R63 000 in compensation.
Loss of income
A total of R750 000 in general compensation would be paid to Rochelle.
A further R2.2m was set aside for Rochelle's estimated future loss of income and R4.1m would go to Rochelle's estimated future medical and related expenses.
Antoinette said: "We're very happy today. The judge was very sympathetic towards our situation and the power of the Lord was undoubtedly at work here today."