Discharged man's intestines fell out - wife

2012-08-01 08:46

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Johannesburg - A Pretoria woman has told of her shock upon finding her husband with a gaping wound and his intestines falling out into the bed, a day after he was discharged from hospital.

The Pretoria News reported that Paulos Vilakazi, 70, died a few days later.

His angry family slammed his treatment by nurses at Kalafong Hospital, who had discharged him with a septic wound following a colostomy operation to remove cancer of the colon.

“He would have died at some point, he was sick and old, but that he should have died of neglect and a lack of compassion from hospital staff brings me so much grief,” said his upset widow, Hazel Vilakazi.

Two days before he was released from hospital, Vilakazi fell down after going to the bathroom.

He had to crawl back to his ward and other patients helped him into his bed after a nurse, who had promised to get other nurses to help him, did not return.

When he was discharged, the wound was septic but the nurse simply told Vilakazi’s wife to clean it. But the following morning, the wound had opened and his intestines had fallen out.

Vilakazi was taken back to hospital and given treatment but never recovered sufficiently and died a few days later.

There was no comment available from the hospital and by Monday the provincial health department had still not responded to questions sent to it on Friday.

- News24