Department saved R45m in lawsuits

New group of lawyers cutting cost of Eastern Cape medico-legal claims

A newly appointed consortium of lawyers has managed to save the Eastern Cape Department of Health R45-million, the department said yesterday. Provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said R17-billion in medico-legal claims for alleged negligence were pending against it. “We paid out R100-million in damages last year,” Kupelo said. He said since the appointment of a new consortium of lawyers, Norton Rose Fulbright and Smith Tabata, the department had saved R45-million. In one instance, a summons for R14-million in a cerebral palsy case was successfully challenged on technical and legal grounds. The court ruled in favour of the Department of Health and also ordered the plaintiff to pay its costs. The matter was subsequently withdrawn and court costs were tendered, Kupelo said. “We will instruct a cost consultant to draw a bill of costs to be recovered against the plaintiffs. We have two cost orders in our favour and we intend recouping both,” he said. The firm Norton Rose Fulbright and local attorneys Smith Tabata were appointed in November after Health MEC Dr Pumza Dyantyi complained that her department was not receiving adequate representation from the state attorney.

The consortium of attorneys also represents some of the country’s major private hospital groups and their liability insurers. At the time of their appointment, the department had had to pay out R600-million in damages over a seven-year period. At the time, Dyantyi said the state attorney had only managed to win four out of 155 medico-legal claims brought against the department since 2014. The rest of the claims were settled. Department of Justice spokesman Advocate Mthunzi Mhaga said that it was within the mandate of the department to outsource legal representation. Kupelo said he also expected that “heads will roll” after the Department of Health passed on sensitive information about fake claims to the Hawks. During her policy speech last week, Dyantyi said the department was implementing a multi-pronged approach to fight medico-legal claims, which included appointing more personnel in hospitals where women and babies were treated. The DA’s Celeste Barker said she wanted to congratulate the attorneys involved. “It is an outstanding achievement, but what a shame that we have personnel drawing salaries and occupying space who couldn’t do the same.”