Medico-Legal Aspects of Cerebral Palsy: A Handbook for Legal and Healthcare Practitioners

The avalanche of medico-legal claims has and will have serious consequences on the provision of healthcare in South Africa. The claims have been estimated to be in the region of R18 billion in KwaZulu-Natal and over R108 billion in in South Africa. In this unique and ground breaking new book, Dr/Advocate Ravin Ramdass, a qualified Specialist Family Physician and a practicing advocate of the High Court of South Africa for almost 15 years, provides valuable insights for doctors and other healthcare practitioners about the causes of Cerebral Palsy with a special emphasis on litigation. This handbook provides essential, practical and uniquely medicolegal (as opposed to simply medical or legal) recommendations that will serve to assist medical practitioners treating pregnancies and neonates in preventing patients from being afflicted with Cerebral Palsy. With a keen focus on medico-legal aspects of the management of mothers during pregnancy and labour and neonates, it is an indispensable guide to healthcare administrators, legal sections of the Ministry and Departments of Health, medical and nursing students, and qualified doctors, specialists and nurses intending to or treating pregnant women and their newborn children both in the private and the public sectors. It is also an indispensable guide to all legal practitioners involved in or intending to become involved in the prosecuting of cerebral palsy claims.