THE FACTS
Stanley Mahosi from Mooinooi in Brits, North West, said he went to the doctor in 2010 for flu and he was given an injection but he became very ill. A few days later he went to see another doctor who referred him to hospital.
He said he then underwent an operation in hospital following the discovery that the injection had caused damage inside his body. Because he was ill all the time and he lost his job. He decided to take his matter to an attorney.
The attorney made an agreement with the doctor and settled out of court without his consent. He felt his representative took advantage of him and that they failed to ask for tests to be done to prove his case. In 2014 he got the services of another advocate who undertook his case and took him to four different specialists who proved that the injection had caused damage, which left him walking on crutches and in unbearable constant pain resulting in numbness and the loss of feeling.
His case was later dismissed in court because of insufficient evidence. He is still suffering and said his health was deteriorating and he is therefore unable to get employment. He wanted to know what he could do.
WHAT I DID
The case was sent to Scorpion Legal Protection for assessment and professional advice.
SOLUTION
Without the details of the out of court settlement it is difficult to determine if he was taken advantage of.
He states that the matter was taken to a second advocate but was dismissed in court due to insufficient evidence. It is unlikely that the court will enrol the matter again without new evidence. In cases of professional negligence an expert witness is required to testify that Stanley’s deteriorating health is as a result of the medicine administered by the first doctor.
This will take a specialist medical practitioner or a highly qualified medical professional.
He faces a number of challenges as the time that has lapsed from the time he went for the first treatment and his current condition and that might jeopardise prospects of successfully proving a link between the condition and the medicine.
The services of the expert witness is also expensive and he faces the challenge that more than three years have passed since he first went for tests. Stanley should have also lodged a complaint against the doctor with the Health Professionals Council of South Africa.
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