- Clara Solomons died of multiple organ failure following two operations in May.
- Upon admission, she had tested negative for the coronavirus. She was positive at the time of her death.
- According to her surgeon, Covid-19 was one of a number of factors which led to her death.
When Clara Solomons was admitted for surgery at Gatesville Melomed Hospital last month, she was a lively and independent 77-year-old grandmother, who had been diagnosed with the early stages of cancer, her daughter says.
Now, a bereaved Bernita Smith is demanding answers on why her mother was carried out wrapped in plastic, infected with Covid-19, despite testing negative at the time of her admission over two weeks earlier.
The hospital and treating doctor, however, have denied any negligence.
“I protected her; you might even say [her children] were overprotective of her,” said Smith.
Solomons was diagnosed with the beginning stages of stomach cancer when tests were conducted after she noticed blood in her stool in March.
Smith said surgery was recommended and claims she and her siblings were guaranteed, “100%”, by their gastroenterologist that her mother would survive it, despite her age.
The operation was scheduled for 7 May – with surgeon Dr William Ddamulira.
Clara Solomons with her daughter Bernita Smith. (Supplied, Bernita Smith)
Two days before the scheduled procedure, Solomons went for preliminary tests, including for Covid-19.
The surgery was done a day later than scheduled as her Covid-19 test results were still outstanding, said Smith, who had been with her mother that day.
As Solomons’ next of kin, Smith was also sent her mother’s results. It was negative.
After the surgery, Smith called the hospital’s intensive care unit to find out about her mother’s condition as she had not heard anything from them.
“They would say she was okay, or that she was sleeping,” Smith said.
“My mother called me the Wednesday. She said she felt sleepy, but that the doctor had told her they got all the cancer and the surgery was successful.”
Clara Solomons with her granddaughter Tiaalah Solomons. She had in December accompanied Tiaalah to her matric ball. (Supplied, Bernita Smith)
She contacted Ddamulira, who she said had assured her that the surgery had been a success.
She said the next week she again spoke to her mother on the phone. She had told her she was feeling weak and was unable to keep her food down.
Suspecting a blockage between the gut and stomach, Smith said Ddamulira had told her he would have to operate again.
“This was nine days after her first surgery,” she said.
On 21 May, Solomons underwent the second procedure.
“He sent me a message afterward, saying my mom was okay,” she said.
She had apparently been awake and talking, Smith said.
Two days later, Smith said she got an SMS, which said her mother’s test conducted on 21 May had come back positive for the coronavirus.
“At that point, my mother had been there for over 16 days,” Smith said.
Solomons was put on a ventilator that Sunday.
She died the next day.
According to Smith, a sister at the hospital had called to say her mom “is no more”, instructing her to inform the undertakers that it was a Covid-19 case.
“Do you know what a cold funeral it was?” a bereaved Smith said. “We had a drive-by.”
Solomons had eight children. They were the only ones allowed near the graveside.
Her 18 grandchildren and 11 grandchildren watched from a distance at the graveyard after following the hearse which had “hooted outside the house”.
“Strangers in white clothes took her body out and put her in her grave. It could have been a dog we were burying.”
Smith said she understood that her mother was old and it was inevitable that she would die one day, but the family had been robbed of a proper send-off by the cause and timing of her death.
Clara Solomons died of multiple organ failure, her surgeon says. (Supplied, Bernita Smith)
“My mother was lively. She had so much life in her. She was a fighter, the matriarch of the family who nobody could tell what to do,” Smith said.
“She belonged to senior clubs, she walked to the mall and handled her own finances. I never had a worry when it came to my mother.
“If she was sickly, this was something one would expect – wish for the best but prepare for the worst. But, in this case, all she had was the beginning stages of cancer.”
She said her mother, upon admission, had been placed in the intensive care unit.
“Someone there infected my mother. They caused her death. They took my mother away and don’t feel the need to explain to us what happened,” she claimed.
“Why did they do a second test?” she asked.
Melomed spokesperson Shameema Adams said a patient is referred for testing by the treating doctor, and not the hospital.
“It is also proven clinically that, even if one does a Covid-19 test at a particular time, especially if you are not presenting symptoms, the results could reflect as Covid-19 negative as the virus could still be in the incubation period.”
Ddamulira on Tuesday said Solomons had showed signs of Covid-19 before her second operation and had been tested as a standard requirement.
According to him, there had been a number of factors combined that resulted in Solomons’ death.
Clara Solomons in her home in Heideveld, Cape Town. (Supplied, Bernita Smith)
He countered Smith’s claim that her mother was in excellent health, saying that she had been seeing a cardiologist and had a weak heart as well as renal impairments, which left her kidneys compromised.
In addition, she was 77, had cancer, and had also undergone two “big operations”, he said.
In the end, her body couldn’t deal with the physical stressors, according to Ddamulira.
She had been on maximum support, including a ventilator and renal support, before her death, Ddamulira said. She had eventually succumbed to multiple organ failure.
He said while Solomons had had Covid-19, it was one of a number of factors which had led to her death.
The Western Cape Department of Health previously said dying of the virus was regarded as a “natural” cause, and an autopsy was not required to establish other causes, News24 previously reported.
Adams explained that all specialist doctors practice independently. She said the treating doctor had “had conversations” with Smith to explain the “full complicated medical history of her elderly mother over the past month”.
“Melomed also suggested having a meeting/telecom with Ms Smith and the doctor to provide some closure and contentment to Ms Smith, but she however declined.”
Ddamulira said he was “sorry [her children] lost their mom”, but maintained that it wasn’t as a result of negligence.
“It was just too much for Clara Solomons to handle.”
