Medical negligence pay-outs on the increase
JOBURG – Gauteng Health pays R276 million for medical negligence in two years.
The Gauteng Health department has stated that it is concerned with the increase in medical negligence cases which the department, together with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), must investigate and arrest.
The department paid R276 million over two years for 110 legal claims, the vast majority for medical negligence at hospitals, according to DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC Jack Bloom.
The highest pay-out was R16.5 million in the case of Kutloano Ntsebeng Makgomarela, who was brain-damaged when she was born at the Tembisa Hospital, according to Bloom.
“The Sheriff of the court visited the department seven times in 2013/14 because of overdue payments, and R4.4 million was wasted in paying interest on overdue accounts,” he said.
R155 million was paid for 59 legal claims for the 2013/14 financial year and R121 million in the previous year for 51 court cases.
“The upward trend in negligence cases is worrying, as is the department’s poor handling of these cases as it has lost every single case in the past four years. I hope that the court cases spur action by the department to root out bad medical practices that injure patients,” said Bloom.
The reasons for such an increase in the number of claims are numerous and include – an increased awareness of rights by patients, a worldwide trend, better litigations, a legal profession that is actively touting patients in hospital wards and a concerning culture of unprofessional conduct that seems to be on the rise, according to Gauteng Health spokesperson Prince Hamnca.
“Given that these happen while people are performing their duties, the employer is one to respond. There are various interventions that are in place in all our facilities.
”These include: the review of all cases with a view to prevent their re-occurrence and to ensure that staff is educated, ongoing re-training of all clinical staff, encouraging citizens to lodge complaints when and where they occur, and improving complaint management systems,” said Hamnca.
He added that the department has quality assurance officers in all facilities as well as at district and provincial levels to follow cases up.
“The cases take a period of more than a year and it is difficult to determine how much is paid until there are court judgments. The department waits for the matters to be put on the court’s roll and for all the necessary processes to be followed before it is informed if or how much should be paid out,” concluded Hamnca.
