Hillcrest, Durban - “I would rather be raped 100 times than for my son to have lived through what he did.”
This was the agonising cry of Vanessa Burn as she related the events leading to the death of her 13-year-old son, Tristen, in the arms of his father, Tim Burn, at RK Khan Hospital.
When Tristen went to St Mary’s Hospital in Mariannhill, Pinetown, with a foot injury they had no idea that after a nightmare of failures and misdiagnoses at the hands of allegedly “apathetic and callous” staff, he would be dead three days later.
The Hillcrest parents are battling to come to terms with the tragedy after hospital staff allegedly botched treatment for a twisted ankle and instead pumped him with tuberculosis (TB) drugs. According to a pathologist’s report he died from septic shock and multiple organ failure from staphylococcal septicaemia, a treatable condition if managed in time.
The parents, who were advised by lawyers not to speak to the media until now, yesterday said a police inquest had been opened and that they were preparing to lodge a complaint with the Health Professions Council of SA. They also want to sue the KZN Health Department.
Tristen died on May 24, just days after his injury.
“They took an X-ray and found a hairline crack in one of his foot bones. He needed plaster of Paris. The doctor said he would be fine and could go to school in two days,” Tim Burn said.
After a night at home in excruciating pain, Tristen went back to St Mary’s the next morning. His foot was X-rayed but the doctor said there was no problem. However, upon Vanessa Burn’s insistence that something was horribly wrong, staff removed the cast.
“When they pulled it off there was a red line where the cast had cut into his leg, although it was not bleeding. And that is what he died from,” Tim Burn said.
Without checking his blood circulation hospital staff allegedly replaced the cast and sent him home, Vanessa said. The parents said they later learnt that if his circulation had been checked, “compartment syndrome” could have been diagnosed and treated. But his breathing became shallow and he went back to St Mary’s the next day where chest and foot X-rays were taken. He was diagnosed with TB.
“I told them it was impossible for him to have TB because he was a healthy child,” Vanessa said.
He was admitted to the adult TB ward the next morning and his condition deteriorated rapidly. By the afternoon he was feverish, ice cold and gravely gaunt. His back had turned black.
“He was screaming ‘I’m dying, I’m dying. I don’t want to die’,” Vanessa sobbed. Tim said he had to “shout and scream for help” and only then did staff put him on drips and a heart monitor.
Tristen was transferred to RK Khan Hospital where the nightmare continued.
“They didn’t even put on the ambulance sirens because paramedics said it was not a matter of life and death,” Vanessa said.
Burn said he drove to the hospital within about half an hour but the ambulance took an hour to get there.
When they arrived, Burn said he had to help paramedics wheel his son and locate a bed after a nurse said the hospital was full.
“His drips had come out and were dripping all over the place. There was no drip stand so I hung the drips on to a window catch.”
The parents were relieved when a doctor diagnosed Tristen with an acute reaction to the TB medication. Drugs were administered and his pain was relieved.
Burn said that when he returned to see his son in the evening: “The drip had come out, his blood sugar was low and three nurses were standing around him laughing loudly.
“He was lying naked and they had the blanket pulled down. My son was well endowed for a 13-year-old. They said they were trying to give him sugar water. He said he wanted to go to the toilet. I lifted him up on to the bed pan and he was hardly talking to me and just staring as if he could not see me any more,” Burn said, sobbing.
“Then he put his head on my shoulder and I thought he was going to sleep. I didn’t realise he wasn’t breathing until I saw his chest wasn’t moving. I ran to get a nurse and I shouted ‘help me, my son is dying’ and she went off in the other direction. I started giving him mouth to mouth and then staff did CPR.”
A few minutes later a doctor told Burn his son was dead.
Burn said apart from a few staff along the way “the majority were callous and apathetic”.
“The health system is a farce. If I had money my child would still be alive. There is a brand new hospital just 2km from my home and I am not far from Crompton Hospital, but I did not have a R30 000 deposit.”
Independent forensic pathologist Dr Steven Naidoo, who conducted the autopsy, said Tristen did not have TB. “I believe the cause of death was a complication of a too-tight plaster cast placed around the injured limb. No other medical conditions of note were identified at autopsy.”
Department of Health spokesman Chris Maxon said the department was investigating the case. “The department is interrogating this matter through relevant channels and processes. As soon as the investigation is completed, it will be communicated accordingly to relevant parties. We wish to convey our sincere condolences to the Burn family.”
St Mary’s Hospital CEO Dr Douglas Ross said management had met the family after the incident and had investigated the matter. He declined to comment on the allegations.
“We are well aware the family is upset and empathise with them. It was a tragic outcome,” Ross said. “We are a first level district hospital managed by generalist physicians. We referred him to RK Khan for ICU and specialist treatment.”