Lobatse High Court Judge, Justice Lesetedi, has ordered government to pay a Gaborone woman over P180 000 for failing to provide her with proper care during delivery.
The amount was an agreed settlement between the parties after the woman sued for over P1 million for the hardship she suffered some time after her delivery when it emerged that medical doctors at Princess Marina Hospital forgot to remove the woman’s placenta when she gave birth.
The doctors, whose identities are known to this paper, cleaned the woman’s womb but did not bother to check whether the placenta had been removed. According to court papers, this resulted in life threatening complications and a lot of bleeding.
The woman is said to have been admitted to Princess Marina Hospital, having reached 32 weeks gestation and was going into premature labour on May 22, 2008. She claims the medical doctors’ care at the hospital put her life and health at risk as well as impaired her dignity.
The woman also claims that on the fourth day after the operation, she collapsed and one of the doctors cleaned her womb with no anesthetic, using a metal curette contrary to standard procedure and practice.
This resulted in her womb being perforated, eventually forcing doctors to perform a hysterectomy, which resulted in the loss of her ability to ever conceive.   
According to the settlement agreement, the court ruled that the woman be paid P170 000 for general damages and P10 000 for loss of consortium and affection of husband. The government will pay wasted costs to which costs are to be agreed or taxed.
