Gauteng wants to pay medical negligence victims in kind, not cash
The provincial health department wants to be able to withhold most of a R23m award to pay for the child's future medical expenses, in a case that has reached the Constitutional Court
The Gauteng health department will move to pay victims of state negligence with future medical services if its Constitutional Court application is successful. The department will appear in the Constitutional Court on Thursday in the continuing legal battle with Dumile Judith Zulu, who claimed damages on behalf of her child, on the grounds that staff at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital were negligent during her birth. Zulu’s daughter suffered brain damage. Zulu was awarded R23.2m in compensation by the High Court in Johannesburg in 2015. The department appealed, and the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed its appeal in November 2016. The department then approached the Constitutional Court, asking that it pay only R4m of the R23.2m and for the rest to be reserved for the child’s future medical expenses. The provincial government argued, and failed, in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein that it would effectively pay twice for the child’s medical treatment if the determined amount...
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