Thursday, 28 March, 2024
HomeMedico-LegalHPCSA to appeal High Court judgment on Dr Death

HPCSA to appeal High Court judgment on Dr Death

A crushing defeat suffered by the Health Professions Council of SA after years of attempts to take disciplinary action against apartheid-era doctor Wouter Basson, dubbed Dr Death by the media, and a legal bill of R15m to date, has not deterred the body from litigation.

According to Rapport, the HPCSA has applied for leave to appeal the judgment by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) that two members of his three-member disciplinary panel should be removed. In 2013, the panel found Basson guilty of unethical conduct for his involvement in the defence force’s apartheid chemical and biological warfare programme, Project Coast. While the committee was busy with sanction proceedings,

The report says Basson’s lawyers objected to the involvement of Professors Jannie Hugo and Eddie Mhlanga due to their alleged membership of the SA Medical Association (Sama) while this organisation earlier campaigned for Basson to be struck from the roll.

Judge Sulet Potterill agreed that the members acted incorrectly by not explaining their membership.

In the application for leave to appeal, the HPCSA says Hugo is a member, but didn’t sign a petition of Sama on the Basson issue. Mhlanga is not a member, the HPCSA argues in the application.

[link url="https://www.netwerk24.com/Nuus/Algemeen/wouter-basson-raad-weier-om-bes-te-gee-20190420"]Rapport report[/link]
[link url="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2019/98.html"]Judgment[/link]

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