Mpumalanga health held fully liable for child's cerebral palsy after 2009 birth injury

The Mpumalanga Department of Health has been found fully responsible for the damages suffered by a child who sustained cerebral palsy as a result of a birth injury at Piet Retief Hospital in 2009. The High Court in Mbombela ruled that inadequate fetal monitoring during labor amounted to medical negligence and caused the child's condition.

The mother, who was admitted to the hospital with labor pains, testified that there were long periods during which she did not recall being assessed. The child, born in November 2009, has not been able to sit, stand, walk, or speak and requires constant care from his mother. He suffers from spastic quadriparesis cerebral palsy, microcephaly, profound intellectual disability, and epilepsy.

The court found that the hospital's failure to properly monitor and record the mother and fetus during labor was a significant departure from the required standard of care.