Werksmans Attorneys' Neil Kirby hits back at claims that unscrupulous lawyers are driving doctors out of business.

In a recent opinion piece for Bhekisisa, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi argued that the legal system has created perverse incentives for lawyers in the form of commission-based fees and that this is increasingly driving lawyers to pursue medico-legal litigation even when some cases have no merit. He says this rise in litigation is not only pushing some gynaecologists out of practice but also threatens to collapse the public health system: "Nobody in their right mind would argue that victims of medical harm should be ignored. The problem we are faced with, though, is the ugly shape that medicolegal litigation has taken," Motsoaledi says.This week, the director of health and life sciences practises at Werksmans Attorneys responds.

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