The purpose of this book is to set out the fundamental principles governing the law of medical malpractice in clear and understandable terms, so that those principles can be applied in daily practice. The intersection of the fields of medicine and the law produces formidable challenges. For the lawyer, the applicable legal principles and issues are as intellectually and professionally demanding as encountered in any field of the law. For the medical practitioner, there is at present an obstructive uncertainty and anxiety about the legal rules which apply, and the health professions accordingly feel under siege. Added to this is the formative role that government and civil society plays in considering and assimilating into our legal system profound policy considerations affecting our most intimate interests. This book addresses these issue clearly and comprehensively.

About the publication In this book, Pat van den Heever assesses the application of the doctrine of a loss of a chance in medical negligence cases in South Africa. He emphasises the difficulties often encountered by courts when adjudicating on causation in medical negligence cases in the face of multiple causation theories. On the basis of a thorough review of the position regarding the doctrine of a loss of a chance in The United States of America, Australia and Britain, he proposes for South Africa a de lege ferenda loss of chance model for application in medical negligence matters. As the first ever major work dealing with the application of the doctrine of a loss of a chance in medical negligence matters in South Africa, this book is of interest to the courts and the legal profession generally, legal academics working in the field of medical law and the law of delict, health care providers, and members of the medical and allied professions, their councils, associations and protection societies. "This publication is the first authoritative and substantive research on the doctrine of a loss of a chance in the context of medical negligence in South African medical law ... Dr van den Heever's thorough and comprehensive comparative approach and discussion of the doctrine here, is commendable ... [T]his publication is indeed timely!" - Pieter Carstens, Professor of Medical Law, University of Pretoria.

"The purpose and object ... is the investigation and research of the utility and effect of the application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur to medical negligence cases. In particular, the book endeavours to establish conclusively that the approach of the South African courts, that the doctrine should never find application to modern negligence cases, is untenable and out of touch with modern approaches adopted in other common law countries. Constitutional principles such as procedural equality, access to courts, access to health care, access to information, post-constitutional legislation, medical ethics and policy considerations are also analysed"--Page 4 of cover.