Sama calls for specialised medical courts

The SA Medical Association (Sama) has called for the establishment of specialised medical courts where trained medical practitioners would be called to scrutinise decisions made by doctors.

“Recent cases have again demonstrated the deficiencies the current legal framework has with medical cases,” said Sama chairperson Dr Angelique Coetzee.

“Magistrates are often placed in the unenviable position of adjudicating exceedingly complex clinical interventions, without possessing the necessary training or medical expertise. This has severe and long-ranging impacts on doctors and, ultimately, on patients.”

She said without proper legal judgment in medical cases, doctors would be afraid to perform certain procedures. This, she said, was a “serious” situation that would have negative consequences for patients.

Coetzee said all surgeries carried a level of risk and doctors often have to make split-second decisions under enormous pressure. Therefore trained medical practitioners with the necessary skills must be called on to evaluate these decisions.

She said Sama had also called for an urgent review of culpable homicide law and its application in healthcare settings.

The letter called for the review to be carried out by the SA Law Reform Commission due to the complexity of criminal law in a healthcare setting.