Litigation: Hospital liable for alcoholic's death fall

Livingstone Hospital and the Eastern Cape MEC of Health have been found liable – almost a decade later – for damages after a patient died when he fell from the fifth floor of the hospital, notes Legalbrief. The wife of George Williams, Jeanine, took the matter to court and is claiming damages which are still to be determined. Eastern Cape High Court (Gqeberha) Acting Judge Ivana Bands found that the hospital staff acted negligently when Williams, a known alcoholic, was admitted to a ward on the fifth floor in October 2013. It was established by hospital staff that Williams displayed irrational behavior while suffering severe alcohol withdrawal, a condition known as delirium tremens, and secondary schizophrenia, notes a report in The Herald.

Jeanine submitted that the hospital failed to properly secure, sedate, and take care of him. Bands found that negligence on behalf of the medical and nursing personnel at the hospital had been proven. ‘Hospital staff failed to treat his condition properly and with the necessary skill required under the circumstances; and by failing to exercise the necessary care, skill and diligence that could be expected of reasonable medical and nursing personnel in the position of the employees. It is declared that the (MEC and superintendent at Livingstone) are liable, jointly, and severally, for such damages as might be agreed upon or proved in consequence of the event that is the subject of this claim,’ Bands said.