KZN SPECIALIST NETWORK: THE ARREST OF A KZN SURGEON IN RICHARD’S BAY

MEDIA STATEMENT
The KZN Specialist Network adds its voice of concern to that of civil society and our colleagues, over the arrest of a general surgeon, following the tragic death of a patient under his care in 2019. We express our condolences to the bereaved family and friends.

While medical practitioners can never be indemnified from criminal charges following negligence, these should be laid as a last resort, and only once the professional regulator, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), has investigated the case. The decision to lay criminal charges should follow the standard guidelines after a full medical review and inquest into the death has been completed.

Charging doctors with criminal offences for failed professional acts is rare in both South Africa and Internationally. It should stay so and not become the first method of investigation.

Surgeons perform high risk surgical interventions involved in clinical care using complex techniques in all areas of the body. These techniques involve significant risk, and an adverse outcome is always a possibility, even in the best of hands. Surgeons doing these procedures should be comfortable in the knowledge that when they use their professional skills in a responsible, appropriate and informed manner, they are not at risk of arrest following an adverse outcome.

Similarly, Medicine is not a perfect science and errors will be made. As much as a patient is human, a doctor can be fallible after all. All doctors should know that they are not at risk of frivolous arrest for mistakes of judgement. If this safety net is not in place, medicine risks becoming ‘overtly defensive’, with more examinations requested and performed. Medical costs will spiral. Healthcare will be less affordable and accessible as healthcare workers leave the profession, due to the inherent premature criminal dangers now apparent if a mistake or error occurs.

Fewer doctors and surgeons will be willing to intervene or operate in high-risk circumstances, a trend we are already finding with many gynaecologists no longer willing to perform deliveries of babies.

We call on the Department of Justice, the National Prosecuting Authority, the South African Police Service, Mainstream media, statutory bodies such as the Health Professions Council of South Africa and Law society to ensure fair process is afforded to healthcare practitioners in our country.

A legal process that does not involve punitive sanction prior to a fair hearing. An open clear process that allows the bereaved families the ability to obtain closure and allows the medical community the advantage to learn from mistakes, so the service can improve.

We implore the public, to consider the devastating impact of the precedent being set in this instance, on the future of healthcare practice as well as the negative implications on healthcare delivery it will have in the future.

Kind Regards
Dr Anil Bramdev
Director/CEO
KZN Specialist Network
KZN Specialist Academic Coalition
Mobile: 073 661 5994 (Work) Email: info@kznspecialist.co.za