Raptured ulcer revealed as death cause of pregnant woman who died at Westbury Clinic

JOHANNESBURG - A raptured ulcer is cited as the cause of death in the postmortem report of Mirriam Singh, the pregnant woman who died at Westbury Clinic. 

The local community has been outraged since Singh died at the clinic, shortly after being admitted.

However, Gauteng’s Department of Health said her death was not as a result of being mistreated.

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The department and the clinic’s management met with Singh’s family on Friday to explain the postmortem results.

The Department of Health said the ulcer that ruptured was in Singh’s stomach. 

Officials have explained to the family that an untreated ulcer can be deadly and that Singh’s condition was undetected. 

A senior gynaecologist from the department said Singh also presented with two other medical conditions related to her kidneys and pancreas.

It added that these conditions were not yet at an advanced stage that could have led to her death.

Singh’s eldest sister, Ruchana Singh, has taken a dim view of the autopsy findings and said the family still has more questions. 

“The condition of this report kind of came out. We are not satisfied with it. We are definitely not taking it because there's still a lot of confusion there in the report. That's all that I can say. We still don't have our answers.”

She said the family wants the matter to be investigated further.