Rape victim gets damages for medical negligence

Judge Zein Kebonang last Wednesday ordered that the plaintiff (name withheld for privacy reasons) be paid damages against the Attorney General and the then Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Madigele (cited as second defendant in the lawsuit) for the lack and/or failure to provide lifesaving medication to the victim post the rape ordeal stating it was an act of negligence.

"The provision of medication was a non-delegable function. The provision of medication in public hospitals or clinics was a duty imposed upon second defendant and not its medical doctors. It was a non-delegable duty which extended beyond the treatment by medical doctors to the duty to procure and make available the necessary lifesaving medication," he said.