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86 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 1263 (2011)
Medical Malpractice and Compensation in South Africa

handle is hein.journals/chknt86 and id is 1283 raw text is: MEDICAL MALPRACTICE AND COMPENSATION IN SOUTH AFRICA L.C. COETZEE* AND PIETER CARSTENS** I. THE OVERALL SCHEME FOR PREVENTING AND REDRESSING MEDICAL ERRORS AND ADVERSE EVENTS, INCLUDING REGULATION, CRIMINAL AND. CIVIL LIABILITY, AND SOCIAL AND PRIVATE INSURANCE, AND THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THESE VARIOUS SYSTEMS A. Regulatory Methods' 1. Government Licensing Authorities for Doctors and Hospitals The practice of the medical profession in the Republic of South Africa is primarily regulated by a number of statutory enactments.2 The most im- portant statute governing medical practice is the Health Professions Act.3 The Act provides for the establishment of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), the statutory regulatory body responsible for, inter alia, controlling and exercising authority in respect of all matters affecting the training of persons in, and the manner of the exercise of the practices pursued in connection with, the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of physical or mental defects, illnesses or deficiencies in human kind.4 Briefly, the Act provides for control over the education, training, registra- tion, and practices of a variety of health professionals.5 * Senior Lecturer in Law, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa; B.L.C., University of Pretoria; LL.B., University of Pretoria; LL.M., University of South Africa. ** Professor in Medical and Criminal Law, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa; B.L.C., University of Pretoria; LL.B., University of Pretoria; LL.D., University of Pretoria. 1. See generally P. CARSTENS & D. PEARMAIN, FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF SOUTH AFRICAN MEDICAL LAW 249-81 (2007); Sybrand A. Strauss, South Africa, in INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF LAWS 45-58 (Herman Nys ed., 2007). 2. Apart from the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, and the provisions of the common law. 3. Health Professions Act 56 of 1974. 4. Id. §§ 2, 3. 5. Id. § 3. The Act can be characterised as the charter of the medical practitioner in South Africa. However, it also governs the practice of dentistry, psychology, and a variety of supplementary health services apart from nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, homeopathy, chiropractic, traditional healing and the like. Id § 17. Ministerial regulations governing topics ranging from the registration of students through disciplinary control over professionals have been promulgated from time to time under the Act. 1263

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