The “patient’s right to dignity” are words that now hold little meaning for the 38-year-old Mr David Rasivhendzele.

Mr Rasivhendzele died face-down on a cold floor next to his bed at the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital where he was a patient until Monday morning. Above him, pasted to the wall, are numerous placards proudly advocating the principals of Batho Pele (People First) and the patient’s right to dignity, care and treatment. The circumstances surrounding his death have left a serious question mark over the competency of especially night staff personnel at the hospital and whether their alleged negligence led to the death of Mr Rasivhendzele.

Early Monday morning, the office of the Zoutpansberger received an urgent call from a fellow patient, Mr Tobie Mülder, lying opposite the late Mr Rasivhendzele in room two of the men’s ward at the hospital.

“Come and have a look what is going on here! Patients are left lying on the floor, it stinks and blood-spattered bathrooms are left uncleaned!” he exclaimed.

Upon our journalist’s arrival at the hospital, Mr Rasivhendzele was indeed found lying on the floor. So too was the bathroom found with large blood spatters on the floor and against the basin. It was a horrific sight which was made worse by an almost unbearable stench.

While interviewing Mr Mülder, nurses became aware of the newspaper’s visit and promptly came to pick up Mr Rasivhendzele off the floor. But by this time, the journalist had fortunately managed to take two photos, one of Mr Rasivhendzele on the floor and one of the bathroom. These two photos proved to be very helpful in response to the nurse’s version of what had happened to Mr Rasivhendzele.

Mr Mülder explained that, during the night, Mr Rasivhendzele was in serious pain. He suffered from diarrhoea. Upon personally reporting Mr Rasivhendzele’s condition to night staff, Mr Mülder alleges that he was summarily told to go back to sleep. Mr Mülder alleges that Mr Rasivhendzele was left lying on the floor unattended from about 03:00. He was adamant that cases such as these had to be exposed to show the world what is going on. No one, he said, seemed to care about what was happening to Mr Rasivhendzele. Last year, Mr Mülder said, he voiced similar complaints and was discharged shortly afterwards.

A couple of hours after interviewing Mr Mülder, the hospital’s liaison officer, Mr Norman Kutama was approached for comment. He said he had heard about the incident and has asked for a complete report. He contended that the nurses said they had removed Mr Rasivhendzele from his bed and placed him on a “mattress” on the floor (the photo clearly shows no mattress) because he had trouble sleeping in his bed. He did not comment on the allegations that the night staff had left Mr Rasivhendzele to his own fate, even after his condition had been reported to them by Mr Mülder. As for the sorry state of the bathroom in room two, Mr Kutama said that cleaning teams clean the toilets regularly.

Not happy with the answers provided by Mr Kutama, the journalist convinced Mr Kutama to escort him to room two. Once there, the shocking news came that Mr Rasivhendzele was dead. His lifeless body was still lying in his hospital bed into which nurses placed him earlier that morning, but the curtains around his bed were closed. The next shock, pointed out to Mr Kutama, was that the blood in the bathroom had also not been cleaned up yet.

Mr Kutama then spoke to Mr Mülder and other patients in the room. He informed the journalist that the hospital would investigate the matter. Hedid not, however, want to comment further on the situation.

As for Mr Mülder, he was discharged on Tuesday, but was re-admitted shortly afterwards. He added on Wednesday that the only solution to the problem was to get rid of incompetent or negligent personnel. Although not happy about the night staff, Mr Mülder had high praise for the day staff.