R50000 award in landmark Bay case

IN a landmark case for patient rights in South Africa, the government has agreed to pay R50000 in damages to a Bethelsdorp woman after she was treated in an "inhumane and contemptuous manner" by nursing staff at Port Elizabeth's Dora Nginza Hospital.

According to papers before the Port Elizabeth High Court, Patricia Speelman, 37, was left in a hospital bed with her stillborn child for hours while nurses joked and laughed around her.

Up to now, patients had to prove that nurses or medical staff were negligent to win a case against the Health Department.