WEEKLY BULLETIN: 20 FEBRUARY 2015
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Bid to cap medical malpractice payouts<br />
Durban - Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has put a radical plan on the table to limit<br />
payouts to victims of medical malpractice. Instead of lump sum payouts, for those who<br />
successfully sued the state, the minister wants them to be paid in instalments, which would<br />
cease on death, with no payments going to their families. And rather than cash payment<br />
for future medical expenses, a claimant would instead have to use public health facilities.<br />
The sweeping reforms, which would require changes to the law, have been proposed by<br />
Motsoaledi in an effort to put a cap on the spiralling medical negligence claims facing the<br />
state. During the <strong>20</strong>12/<strong>20</strong>13 financial year, the KZN Department of Health faced medical<br />
negligence claims totalling almost R1 billion (more than R992 million). This was R300<br />
million more than the previous financial year. There were 306 medical negligence claims<br />
in Gauteng, amounting to R1.286 billion while the Eastern Cape department faced lawsuits<br />
in excess of R875-million in the same financial year. Read the full article at<br />
http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/bid-to-cap-medical-malpractice-payouts-<br />
1.1813364#.VOSPRmccRMw<br />
Medical negligence costs ‘threat’ to National Health<br />
Service<br />
A soaring bill from medical negligence damages has become a threat to the National Health<br />
Service, says one of the most senior business figures in Whitehall. He said there was a<br />
question as to whether patients should lose their right to sue. The NHS Litigation<br />
Authority, which provides indemnity cover for legal claims against the health service, has<br />
set aside £26.1bn to cover outstanding liabilities, equivalent to almost a quarter of the<br />
£113bn annual health budget: £1.6bn was paid out last year. The number of claims rose<br />
almost 18 per cent in the year from March <strong>20</strong>13. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, will<br />
on Wednesday announce financial sanctions for hospitals that fail to be honest about<br />
clinical mistakes, in a sign of growing concern about compensation costs.<br />
Read the full article at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f4da10f6-a255-11e4-9630-<br />
00144feab7de.html#axzz3S6NNZtrG<br />
Delhi govt asked to pay Rs 8L for medical negligence at<br />
LNJP<br />
New Delhi: The apex consumer commission has asked the Delhi government to pay over<br />
Rs 8 lakh to the kin of a 46-year-old man who died due to "gross negligence" at the staterun<br />
LNJP hospital while being subjected to radiotherapy. A bench of National Consumer<br />
Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), presided by Justice D K Jain, asked the Delhi<br />
government to pay Rs 8.25 lakh to the wife and three children of Ghaziabad resident<br />
Ramveer Singh, who died in October <strong>20</strong>04. Read the full article at<br />
http://zeenews.india.com/news/delhi/delhi-govt-asked-to-pay-rs-8l-for-medicalnegligence-at-lnjp_1538142.html