With reference to "Malpractice billions blamed on lawyers" (November 13), the Gauteng health department will score zero for "going for the lawyers" who "entice" patients to institute hefty multimillion-rand lawsuits against it.
The reason is that the lawyers are winning cases for their clients, who, in some cases, have been left with severe disabilities such as brain damage and paralysis, or have had limbs amputated unnecessarily.
It is clear the standards of care in some government hospitals border on reckless and negligent. It is concerning that the people tasked with caring for patients - doctors and nursing staff - can do more harm to the patient than good.
Leave the lawyers alone. They are merely fulfilling a function following malpractice by professional staff attached to the Gauteng health department.
The department needs to get its house in order so there are no malpractice suits against it.
Nathan Cheiman, Northcliff
The Gauteng health department would do far better to concentrate on raising the standard of medical - particularly nursing - care in its hospitals than to try to deflect attention to the relatively few law firms it believes are responsible for the avalanche of claims against it.
The department's abysmal record-keeping also needs attention.
There can be little doubt that the vast majority of cases brought against the department and its employees stem from seriously below-par patient care - and this is based on the evidence.
Dr Leslie Berkowitz, by e-mail
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