Die Burger

Fatima Schroeder

A 63-YEAR OLD Athlone factory supervisor is suing a Claremont surgeon and
Western Cape Health MEC Pierre Uys for R630 000 for operating on the
wrong side of his body.

The man, Mohammed Noor Ebrahim, alleges in Cape High Court papers that surgeon Charles Simonsz performed the operation on the right side of his abdomen instead of the left. The MEC is also cited as a defendant because further surgery was performed at Groote Schuur Hospital and Ebrahim says the hospital is managed by the Western Cape Provincial Administration.

While Simonsz and the MEC have not yet filed any papers, they have indicated they will defend the action. In court papers Ebrahim said he consulted Simonsz about a hernia in November 2005. They agreed that surgery would be performed at Kingsbury Hospital on November 2 of that year. Hours after the operation Ebrahim was discharged. However, he experienced nausea and pain and the following day he developed swelling of the abdomen.

He went to the emergency unit of Claremont Hospital where x-rays revealed a
possible bowel obstruction and tests indicated severe infection. After Simonsz
examined him at Kingsbury Hospital he was transferred to Groote Schuur Hospital
where further surgery was performed to his abdomen and Ebrahim spent a month in hospital.

Ebrahim alleges that Simonsz should not have discharged him when he
initially did and claims that the surgeon did not attend to him promptly when he
started to experience complications.