Medical malpractice under legal scrutiny

NURSES who don't care about their patients, medical procedures that go badly wrong - these are the horror stories that you hear every day.

Cape Argus, 26 July 2015

There can be no surprise then that the first comprehensive guide to medical malpractice in South African law has made its appearance. The Practitioner's Guide to Medical Malpractice in South African Law has been written by advocate Ian Dutton, chairman of the KwaZulu-Natal branch of the South African Medico-Legal Society and a member of the World Society of Medical Lawyers.

One only has to examine some of the more recent court judgments given in the South African High Court to see why the worried voices are loud and clear. The South African Medical Journal recently observed that medical practice was becoming "increasingly hostile, pressurised and uncertain". Summing up his work, Dutton said that every effort had been made to state the fundamental principles accurately - but "succinctly to keep costs and unnecessary verbiage to a minimum".

Prickly stuff like patient doctor relationship, sexuality, reproduction, genetics, gender, transplant, de-selection of traits, resources and socio-economic considerations are examined in a legal context in layman's language that most will understand. Patients, health professionals, clinics, hospitals, attorneys, advocates and judges all come under the spotlight as each of their roles, rights and recourses to justice are examined in detail. Other countries, like the US, know the territory well. But South Africa is only at the beginning of the process. Dutton said South Africa's current case law is worryingly threadbare in issues relating to daily practice in medicine. Medico-legal heavyweights like retired judge of the High Court, Neels Claassen, chairman of the South African Medico-Legal society, believe "drastic" solutions are needed to make patients' lives less complicated when they are in need of medical and/or legal remedies.