The South African Medico Legal Society

Dear Colleagues and Friends

It is about a month after a very successful seminar regarding Informed Consent. Not only did Adv Van Jaarsveld honour us by addressing our meeting, but the learned Judge Bertelsmann again enriched us with his vast knowledge and experience.

As special guest speaker we had invited Prof McQuoid-Mason from the Law Facility of Natal in Durban. He is professor of Procedural and Clinical Law and founder of the South African Street Law. He is the chairperson of the Durban Medico-Legal Forum and president of the Commonwealth Legal Education Association involving over 600 Law Schools in 54 Commonwealth countries.

He is a prolific writer and has lectured in numerous countries. He is an excellent speaker and perfects the art of communicating knowledge. He indeed together with his professional colleagues made the audience realise what a treasure of knowledge there is to communicate and how important it is to be at such a meeting.

For those who of you who could not make it, it was your loss! Remember our next meeting, or you will lose out again. In this complex society and in our dedicated profession there should be no excuse to miss such an opportunity. The medical colleagues present earned 4 ethical points with that Saturday morning meeting. Again we want to thank our sponsor Pharmacia who made such an event financially possible.

The next seminar will be on 11 October 2003, same time 09:00 to 13:00 and same place, Protea Midrand Hotel.

The subject will be The Different Dimensions of Malpractice. A host of speakers will be invited, such as academic jurists, practitioners both in medical and private law practice, ethicists and a representative of the Health Professions Council. An exact list with all the honoured speakers will be made available at a later stage. Remember the date!

Annual Meeting – 8 – 9 August 2003

Before the second seminar this year we as members will however need to have our annual meeting. As announced earlier we want to do that over a weekend at a convenient location such as the Ekudeni Conference Centre near Krugersdorp. Full accommodation in chalets for Friday night including dinner, bed, breakfast and lunch on Saturday is R 395,00 per delegate sharing. This also includes the use of the Conference facilities on Saturday. Please visit www.ekudeni.co.za to view the private facilities of this conference centre. Accommodation is limited so book your place as soon as possible.

We propose to come together on Friday night 08/08/2003 to socialize and get to know each other better over a glass of wine and excellent food. After a good night’s rest at the resort we can start our meeting with an interesting speech from Prof Willem Landman ethicist and director of the Institute of Ethical Studies in Pretoria. After a healthy discussion and some refreshments we will start our annual meeting with the election of a new Executive Committee. Financial matters can be discussed and proposals can be made about the fee structure and how to spend so much money!

Discussion Points and Decision Time

The important part of the annual meeting however will be the discussion regarding the format of medico legal reports and as important, how we as the South African Medico Legal Society can take a firm stand about fees for services provided. Proposals about both these subjects have been made and are available on our informative website www.samls.co.za.

After this annual meeting the Executive Committee envisages to pose the SAMLS’ point of view about the format and fees to the Road Accident Fund, the Workman’s Compensation Commissioner, the big insurance companies, the Medical and Legal Societies as well as the Health Professions Council. Although no binding rules can be laid down, guidelines in these matters are really necessary. Please remember to book for this Annual General Meeting! It will not only be fun and pleasant but also important and worthwhile.

Membership Fees
Members who have not paid their membership fees are advised to do so. A letter to remind you from our treasurer Dr. Hennie Pienaar will follow soon. Members who did not pay last year or this year, or both, will only be allowed 1 month to catch up after receiving their final warning before they are removed from our register.

Website – new series of articles
Please remember our website www.samls.co.za Times are changing so quickly that even a few years ago the importance of a website as a point of central information accessible from everywhere had not been realised. Teach yourself to go to our website monthly as it will worthwhile to do so.

We have as a pleasant surprise for you. The knowledgeable Professor Pieter Carstens, head of Medical Law of the Law Faculty of the University of Pretoria will on a regular basis write condensed summaries of what is happening in the world of medical law all over the globe. Impossible? You had better believe it and make use of it! He will start his series in August 2003 and will announce the name of his series later. As such it will able to be found on our website with just a click of the mouse!

International Contacts
To interest you some more about international contacts in law matters, the Dutch Centraal Tucht College van de Gezondheidszorg published a while ago the most important findings and cases of 2002. It is a series of judicature and how justice in medico legal cases is dispensed in the Netherlands. You need however to be able to read Afrikaans to have access to this treasure of knowledge of our brethren in low and wet counties. For that reason alone it would be advisable to keep in touch with the Afrikaans tongue as our Constitution clearly states in Section 39 of the Bill of Rights: when interpreting the Bill of Rights, a court, tribunal or forum (b) must consider international law and (c) may consider foreign law.

In this yearly overview of 2002 one Hoge Raad case about the remuneration of costs of a medical practitioner incurred in a case where he had to defend himself against unjust accusations is reported. Several verdicts of Regional Disciplinary Colleges are noted, like those of Amsterdam, The Hague and Groningen. The majority of the reported cases however are case descriptions and verdicts from the Central Disciplinarily College, 33 in total. Although not all the information is applicable as such here in South Africa, much can be learnt about the whole system and how these matters are handled and published. Here the Dutch lead us by example.

Information about these publications can be gathered from their website www.sdu.nl

The Road Ahead
Gradually as our medico-legal concerns and the road ahead become clear, we only need to go on to organise and present ourselves as a unity to the outside world. Medico-legal specialists really and justifiable have a specific and important role to play in our medico legal society as a whole. Continued education and to assemble under one banner is the right thing to do. Our Society is here to stay and grow by active participation of its members. Please feel free to communicate to us though e-mail and fax. We are even considering a chat room on our website.

Your president

DR & ADV ANTON H VAN DEN BOUT

EXCO MEMBERS:- Mr Jan van Rooyen - Vice President

Dr. Dave Barnes - Secretary

Dr. Hennie Pienaar – Treasurer

Prof Pieter Carstens – Member