The Pretoria High Court recently dismissed a patient’s appeal against the HCPSA’s decision not to find a doctor guilty of unprofessional conduct. 

The patient had lodged a complaint with the HPCSA alleging that the doctor had, despite knowing the patient’s history and risk factors, performed a coronary angiogram and caused the patient to suffer a complication (an arterial dissection).  The HPCSA’s Board of Inquiry dismissed the complaint on the basis that the complication was one that can occur without misconduct and found that the doctor had managed the complication appropriately. 

The patient appealed this finding in terms of section 20 of the Health Professions Act, 1974, alleging that the Board of Inquiry had failed to take all documents into account, relied only on the doctor’s submissions, and did not afford the patient an opportunity to reply to the doctor’s submissions. 

The court found that there was no merit in the patient’s argument that the Board of Inquiry had failed to take his submissions into account.  The court noted that there is nothing in the HPSCA’s Rules that requires the Board of Inquiry to allow the patient to reply to the doctor’s submissions.  The court therefore dismissed the patient’s appeal.

This judgment is a reminder that complications can and do occur without unprofessional conduct on the doctor’s part.  Where a complication does occur, the HPCSA (and ultimately the court) will look at the doctor’s conduct leading up to and following the complication to determine whether the doctor acted unprofessionally (or negligently in a civil claim for damages).  Here, the court found that the doctor had discussed the procedure, its risks and its benefits with the patient, and had obtained the patient’s informed consent for the procedure.  When the complication arose, the doctor immediately informed the patient of the complication, sought input from specialists, and arranged for a follow up consultation and further treatment. 

The case is Dercksen v Health Professions Council of South Africa and Another (A13/2024) [2024] ZAGPPHC 782 (8 August 2024)