MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LITIGATION: DO WE NEED A PARADIGM SHIFT IN OUR APPROACH TO HANDLING MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE DISPUTES?

This article takes a critical look at the current state of affairs of both our public as well as private healthcare sectors in South Africa. The focus of this article is to try and find reasons for the exorbitant amounts of monies spent on litigation, which our country can ill afford. What will be considered is whether we need a paradigm shift in our approach to handling medical negligence disputes? What will also be introduced as part of the suggested solutions are practices that can be put in place. It is especially the introduction of mediation as oversight mechanism and other practices that will receive wide attention.