Noakes's lawyer tears into 'sloppy' expert

27 November 2015 - 02:39 By Aarti J Narsee

The second expert witness at the misconduct hearing against Tim Noakes was yesterday accused of being speculative and sloppy in her report. Professor Salomé Kruger, of North West University, a registered dietician and pharmacist, testified that she believed that Noakes acted unethically when he advised a mother on Twitter to wean her child on a low-carb, high-fat diet.Noakes's tweet read: "Baby doesn't eat the dairy and cauliflower. Just very healthy high-fat breast milk. Key is to ween [sic] baby onto [low carb, high-fat]."Noakes is appearing before the Health Professions Council of SA after being charged with unprofessional conduct.Noakes's defence lawyer, advocate Ravin Ramdass, asked if Kruger had checked her report before she sent it to the Health Professions Council.Kruger replied: "I must admit that I did not. I was really pressed for time. I am always very busy. But I would've come to the same conclusion."Ramdass said Kruger was "speculative" in her report because she assumed the baby mentioned in the tweet was suffering from cramps, but the mother had not said this.Earlier this week, another expert witness, Professor Este Vorster, testified that a 140-character tweet was too short to give advice that was usable and safe."I don't think social media is a correct medium [over which] to give it," she said...

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