Stand-in doctor cleared

THE legal duty of doctors when they cover for each other has come into the spotlight after a recent Durban High Court judgment dealing with medical negligence.

In the case, Judge Johan Ploos van Amstel ruled that Dr Abdool Suliman could not be found responsible for birth defects suffered by a baby after being deprived of oxygen while his mother was in labour.

The judge said while there was a “serious lapse which fell short of the degree of care and expertise that was expected of him”, he had been unable to find that had he acted as it is said he should have, the outcome would have been avoided.

The court was dealing with a case in which the parents of the baby took legal action against Life Healthcare and the specialist who delivered him at Crompton Hospital, in Pinetown, in July 2008.

The matter was settled out of court and the parents were awarded damages.

The judge said Suliman denied he was negligent and said any settlement was made without this admission.

But the hospital group took Suliman to court seeking a contribution from him towards the damages.

However Judge Ploos van Amstel dismissed the hospital’s claim, saying the onus was on the hospital group to link the doctor’s negligence with the cerebral palsy suffered by the baby.

The baby’s mother was admitted to hospital at 10am.

Her own doctor was not available, but had arranged with Suliman to cover for him.

Hospital staff called Suliman and he advised on treatment for the mother and was given telephonic updates until around 9.20pm when he arrived at the hospital and discovered that the baby was in distress and had to be delivered immediately.

Suliman’s legal team had argued that he owed the patient no legal duty until he arrived at the hospital.

But Judge Ploos van Amstel said Suliman had owed the patient a legal duty from the time that he was notified of her admission.

“The question is whether this would have avoided the harm that caused the cerebral palsy,” he said.

In response to questions from The Mercury, Suliman’s attorney Sivi Pather, from Pather and Pather Attorneys, said as far as the firm was aware, this was the first time that a medical malpractice case dealing with one doctor covering for another had come before a court in this country.

“There is nothing in the medical legislation or ethical rules that deals with how covering is to take place, albeit that the judge in this matter accepted that covering is a universal practice.”

Barries Barnard, manager of Crompton Hospital, said the group intended to appeal against the judgment.