By RK Ramdass
Cape Town: Juta
(2024) 1st Edition
Price: Print R 297 / eBook R 275
Pages: 60
In this issue of De Rebus we speak to legal practitioner, Dr Ravin Ramdass, about his book Medico-Legal Aspects of Cerebral Palsy: A Handbook for Legal and Healthcare Practitioners (Cape Town: Juta 2024), to find out what motivated him to write the book and how the book will assist legal practitioners and health practitioners.
Dr Ramdass who trained as a medical practitioner and a legal practitioner said that the inspiration for the book was to draw attention to the serious issue of medico-legal claims arising from the treatment of cerebral palsy. He pointed out that the sheer magnitude of the claims (both in number and amount) poses a serious threat to the provision of healthcare services in South Africa. It is his hope that even if one child is prevented from developing cerebral palsy due to the recommendations made in the handbook. ‘It will be the sweetest cherry on the top,’ said Dr Ramdass.
Kgomotso Ramotsho (KR): What are the key takeaways from the book, what is it that you want readers to learn?
Ravin Ramdass (RR): The book intends to give insight into the manner in which claims in cerebral palsy patients are instituted and prosecuted, the reasons giving rise to such claims in a relatively large cohort of medico-legal cases and makes recommendations which will help in improving treatment and in defending the claims. These are the key takeaways of the book.
KR: Do you believe the book will help enhance the understanding of cerebral palsy among legal practitioners and healthcare practitioners, and how best to deal with cases that may arise regarding cerebral palsy?
RR: The book will assist legal practitioners and healthcare workers (for example, obstetricians, registrars, medical officers, interns, midwives and nurses) not only in being proactive in the management of labour but also in preparing to defend the matter, should an adverse event occur. For legal practitioners it is simplified to enable them to understand not only the approach taken in litigating these matters but also provides an understanding of cerebral palsy and the causes and associated factors in causation. The book also assists in identifying areas of negligence. Most of all, the book is valuable to the Department of Health and other healthcare providers and insurers in that it provides valuable information on what can be done to decrease the number of cerebral palsy claims, and it serves to assist in ‘closing the tap’ of these ever-increasing claims.
Dr Ramdass recommended that the book should form part of every labour department and should be considered as basic teaching in medico-legal courses. The book is published by Juta and can be bought at www.juta.co.za.
Kgomotso Ramotsho Cert Journ (Boston) Cert Photography (Vega) is the news reporter at De Rebus.
This article was first published in De Rebus in 2024 (Sept) DR 30.