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Woman Who Allegedly Got HIV in Hospital Dies

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 00:00 CST

By Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi

SEGAMAT: Felda settler Norizan Ismail died last Friday, four years after allegedly contracting HIV in hospital.

Her husband, Rosli Mansor, 49, said she could not accept the fact that her decision to deliver her ninth child in a hospital had resulted in her contracting the disease.

"She prayed and hoped that she would live long enough to see all the children attain adulthood, but it was not to be," said Rosli.

Norizan, 46, of Felda Palong Timur, is believed to have been infected with HIV during a blood transfusion at Segamat District Hospital.

She was later diagnosed HIV-positive.

Rosli said family members and neighbours were kind and considerate and did not ostracise her, which helped Norizan continue with her life.

However, her condition began to deteriorate from the beginning of the year, and she was admitted to Kuala Lumpur Hospital four times.

"She had difficulty breathing, could not swallow her food and had problems with her eyesight. She was about to undergo surgery at KLH to ease the complications when she died at 11pm," he said.

She was buried at Felda Palong Timur Satu on Saturday.

Rosli intends to continue with a legal suit against Segamat District Hospital, claiming it was the hospital's negligence that had caused suffering to the family.

Norizan had a blood transfusion during an emergency Caesarean section when she was seven months pregnant, on July 17, 2001. She received 11 pints of blood and was in a coma for a week. Her baby lived just 18 days.

Norizan spent two months in hospital.

Initially, she and Rosli decided not to tell the children about her condition but after several months, Norizan decided it was unfair to hide the truth from them. "We were lucky to have an understanding family and a community who did not see us as outcasts," said Rosli.

The hardest part, he added, was coping with regular medical treatment at the hospital, which was about 40km away from their home.

"We earned less than RM1,000 a month and we had to seek treatment regularly."

Source: New Straits Times

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