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Background: Contractual claims are mandatory for an employee who has either resigned/died or finished his or her contractual obligations. It is legally binding to an institution according to labor law. Case History: BM was such a victim who has been admired nationally and internationally but dehumanized in his own university through the process of three malicious disciplinary enquiries, two suspensions, forensic auditing, and stoppage of salary and birthday bonus. He was not allowed to go to the forensic pathology laboratory despite of the fact that he was all along a forensic pathologist. The harassment of BM became more rigorous in 2008, although he was victim long before that. The head of faculty was promoted later to a position of a university head. BM had an interest in research so he was publishing prolifically, but that disturbed the balance of the faculty staff as the rest of them contributed very little as per the report of the external assessor.1 The harassment was not limited only to mental harassment but also at the same time financial losses to Mr. BM occurred. The Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) scale is supposed to be given to every health professional in South Africa who is working in the public sector and registered in Health Professions Council. The OSD scale started in 2009 but was not implemented for Mr. BM. Instead, Mr. BM, underwent a series of disciplinary enquiries. He was cleared all the charges and retired in 2018. The history of his research, contractual damages and other collateral losses are discussed in this report. Conclusion: There is heavy contractual damage which the Department of health and rural university has to pay from 1996 to 2018. This damage refers mainly to the short fall of salary and bonuses along with financial losses related to research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is struggling with an enormous amount of forensic pathology services because there is an extreme pressure on forensic pathologists to deal with the high number of medicolegal autopsies in the country. There are only five dozen forensic pathologists in South Africa who have to handle at least 80 000 autopsies per year. Medical officers, who have only received training as undergraduates in medical school, are expected to conduct these autopsies. Therefore, undergraduate teaching and training must be strong enough so that these young graduates can handle cases without any compromise in the quality of the outcome. This report is going to highlight the necessity of teaching forensic medicine at undergraduate level in South African medical schools. It will also discuss the shortcomings in medical school teaching programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Doctors complete death notification forms poorly, in South Africa and globally. This reduces accuracy of mortality statistics in South Africa, which is needed by policymakers and clinicians to focus on healthcare improvement initiatives. The law on procedure-related deaths was changed in 2008, directly informing on the practice of anaesthesiologists. Perioperative deaths continue to be misclassified, possibly related to doctors' lack of knowledge or understanding of the law. This study aimed to determine if perioperative clinicians working in theatre and the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) knew and understood the law pertaining to deaths in the perioperative period. Method: A survey was conducted at eight hospitals in the Durban area amongst specialists and non-specialists who work in theatre and ICU. The questionnaire had three parts: definitions, medico-legal experiences and clinical scenarios. Results: Eighty responses were received, a response rate of 74%. More non-specialists responded (57%). When undecided on how to classify a death, clinicians mostly seek assistance from their private medico-legal insurance or a senior colleague. However, specialists are unable to define or classify unnatural and procedure-related deaths any better than non-specialists. Conclusion: Specialist and non-specialist knowledge and application of the law relating to unnatural deaths in the perioperative period is poor. Forensic pathologist assistance is underutilised. More needs be done to empower doctors on medico-legal issues affecting perioperative clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]