"To be honest, it's not about money it's about responsibility. In the meantime, he has had to pay for all her care, including two nurses to take care of her day and night. Maharaj's lawyer has taken the matter up, but there has been no progress. He then submitted a file detailing her plight, but was subsequently told that her file was "missing". If you just touch the arm, it's as though you are electrocuting her."ĭespite the nightmare that has stretched over eight years, the family have yet to receive a cent from the Department of Labour's compensation fund.įour years ago, King Edward Hospital stopped paying her salary, describing her as "a ghost in the system", despite Maharaj submitting regular reports on her condition. Currently Nerissa feels fire in her left arm. "This is primarily because of the amount of damage that has occurred at the spinal cord level as a result of the TB. "There are days when my daughter comes home from school, and because Nerissa is screaming so much in the house from the pain, we literally have to prevent my daughter from coming into the house," he says. "The only things you can do is live and try, and pray and trust God," says Maharaj. And you've got this black bag with all these expensive drugs and you can't do diddly squat. "It's hard to cope when you see the woman you love go to the point of no return and you have this (medical) degree. Maharaj has had to watch the woman he loves descend into a dazed twilight world of pain, and at times he has been forced to rush home from his Verulam medical practice three times a day to administer to his wife. She is unable to mother her eight-year-old daughter Kyla properly, while her husband, Dr Shane Maharaj, who she married while they were at medical school, has become her doctor. She also suffered a stroke that paralysed her right side, while the TB spread to her sinuses and spleen.Ĭomplications from various operations to relieve the pressure on her brain and spinal cord have caused extensive nerve damage.Īs a result of all the medication Pather has taken, she has developed osteoporosis, deafness, liver damage and kidney infections. Pather has lost the use of her legs and bladder. The TB meningitis, which caused swelling on the brain, also damaged her spinal cord.
In 2002, Dr Nerissa Pather was 26 years old and doing her community service at Durban's King Edward Hospital when she got TB meningitis.Įight years later, instead of enjoying a rewarding career, marriage and motherhood, Pather is a paraplegic with extensive nerve damage that causes her excruciating pain. Husband bearing brunt of financial and emotional strain after doctor picked up disease from patient
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