WEEKLY BULLETIN: 20 FEBRUARY 2015

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A covenant of trust. “The goals of medicine as a profession dedicated to healing and caring of the sick in a dignified manner depend very much on a stable and trusting doctor-patient relationship…Adopting a patient centered philosophy in the doctor-patient relationship imposes the duty on doctors to do the utmost in caring for patients, and allows the sick to claim their right to humane and dignified care from doctors. As suggested in an editorial in Lancet a year ago, the terms “patient”, and not “customer” or “client” as some would advocate, best portrays this fiduciary nature of the relationship. Only by restoring the element of trust in this ageless patient-physician covenant, can the soul of the medical profession be restored and preserved regardless of technological and social changes in society”. The full article can be read at: http://www.uni-hildesheim.de/~beneke/WS03- 04/Thesen04.pdf. Bid to cap medical malpractice payouts Durban - Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has put a radical plan on the table to limit payouts to victims of medical malpractice. Instead of lump sum payouts, for those who successfully sued the state, the minister wants them to be paid in instalments, which would cease on death, with no payments going to their families. And rather than cash payment for future medical expenses, a claimant would instead have to use public health facilities. The sweeping reforms, which would require changes to the law, have been proposed by Motsoaledi in an effort to put a cap on the spiralling medical negligence claims facing the state. During the 2012/2013 financial year, the KZN Department of Health faced medical negligence claims totalling almost R1 billion (more than R992 million). This was R300 million more than the previous financial year. There were 306 medical negligence claims in Gauteng, amounting to R1.286 billion while the Eastern Cape department faced lawsuits in excess of R875-million in the same financial year. Read the full article at http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/bid-to-cap-medical-malpractice-payouts- 1.1813364#.VOSPRmccRMw
Medical negligence costs ‘threat’ to National Health Service A soaring bill from medical negligence damages has become a threat to the National Health Service, says one of the most senior business figures in Whitehall. He said there was a question as to whether patients should lose their right to sue. The NHS Litigation Authority, which provides indemnity cover for legal claims against the health service, has set aside £26.1bn to cover outstanding liabilities, equivalent to almost a quarter of the £113bn annual health budget: £1.6bn was paid out last year. The number of claims rose almost 18 per cent in the year from March 2013. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, will on Wednesday announce financial sanctions for hospitals that fail to be honest about clinical mistakes, in a sign of growing concern about compensation costs. Read the full article at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f4da10f6-a255-11e4-9630- 00144feab7de.html#axzz3S6NNZtrG Delhi govt asked to pay Rs 8L for medical negligence at LNJP New Delhi: The apex consumer commission has asked the Delhi government to pay over Rs 8 lakh to the kin of a 46-year-old man who died due to "gross negligence" at the staterun LNJP hospital while being subjected to radiotherapy. A bench of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), presided by Justice D K Jain, asked the Delhi government to pay Rs 8.25 lakh to the wife and three children of Ghaziabad resident Ramveer Singh, who died in October 2004. Read the full article at http://zeenews.india.com/news/delhi/delhi-govt-asked-to-pay-rs-8l-for-medicalnegligence-at-lnjp_1538142.html Liberia's Ebola human waste dilemma In Liberia, new infections of the Ebola virus have dropped to one-tenth from levels seen when the virus was at its peak. The country recently reopened its border with Sierra Leone and lifted its nationwide curfews after several months of closure. But the country still has the problem of what to do with huge quantities of potentially infectious human waste. Read the full article at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31599134
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WEEKLY BULLETIN: 20 FEBRUARY 2015

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