I was told [by the hospital management] that we’ll freeze it for you and when you are ready you can come get it. The hospital’s lawyer, Ronald Bottin, has denied any accusations of negligence made by Qubeka. “In line of the internal processes and policies of Life Healthcare, the allegations surrounding the placenta of Ms Qubeka, after giving birth during October 2018, was investigated at various levels including hospital, operational and management level,” Bottin said in an email statement.
“Having considered all the facts, we find no negligence on the part of the hospital. Ms Qubeka was required to complete and sign an affidavit for the safe disposal of human tissue by a patient, in order to collect the placenta after her discharge. Ms Qubeka did not complete the affidavit nor queried upon discharge the whereabouts of the placenta.
“As a result, the hospital is obligated to dispose of the placenta in an ethical manner as required in terms of legislation. Colossa said the placenta was significant for him and his family to be used in Tsonga rituals. “You can cleanse the child traditionally if something happens to them,” Colossa said.
Some other cultures they plant it and then plant a tree to represent the life of the child.” The couple is in the early stages of developing a radio and TV production that is going to focus on health as well as wellness during and after pregnancy. The placenta was a big feature in the production.In terms of producing the kind of content that we were going for, we were looking at a production cost of between R10-million and R20-million, that’s excluding the sponsors,” he said.
The hospital management and the couple had a meeting in November 2018. Hospital manager Jacques de Klerk was in attendance. “That’s where the strange reactions that they will fire whoever was involved started,” Qubeka said. But we pointed out to them that we are not about that, that’s your business, we are here to find out what is a way forward and is this how you treat a client? They were just saying things that were not dealing with the issues at hand.”
After explaining the cultural and economic fallout the issue will have on their lives, they were asked by the hospital to send them a business study. In the study, Qubeka and Colossa proposed a R40m settlement agreement. However, Bottin later wrote a letter to them denying any liability. Qubeka and Colossa have explored pursuing a civil lawsuit but decided against it. They then consulted with the Human Rights Commission, before CRL Rights Commission took on their case in October. CRL spokesperson Mpiyakhe Mkholo confirmed they were looking into the case.
In other news – Zodwa Wabantu looking for Matriculants with no distinctions
Zodwa Wabantu has explained that her desire to want to help the “no distinction” matriculants, as opposed to the high achievers who everyone focuses on, comes from the lessons her personal failures taught her.
The reality TV star recently made headlines when she announced that with the help of the doctor responsible for keeping her body “fresh”, she wants to help open doors for the often ignored “average or low” marks matriculants. Read more
Source: ghanagh
