Legal Profession and Corruption in Health Care: Some Reflective Realities in South Africa

Abstract

The article is an empirical attempt to research, analyse, and dissect the corrupt involvement of legal practitioners in illegal and fraudulent acts, and mainly their involvement in litigation associated with issues of medical negligence. This is done primarily but not exclusively through the utilisation of several qualitative research methods, including the content analysis of primary literary sources such as official state documents, existing legislation and court proceedings and personal interviews with senior public servants, as well as secondary sources. Beginning with a short exploration of South Africa's public legal terrain and the fears of sections of the statutory leadership of the legal profession, the article continues with the identification of key findings in several the country's provinces, the modus operandi of the corrupt individuals and groups, as well as the monetary, financial and social repercussions of such actions.

Association between hospital legal constructions and medical disputes: A multi-center analysis of 130 tertiary hospitals in Hunan Province, China

“…By enacting a law to combat corruption, the Canada health system's construction of the rule of law has been enhanced ( 23 ). Based on the root of corruption and inadequate governance structures in the health industry, the hospital rule of law in South Africa's healthcare system is unsatisfactory ( 24 , 25 ). Insufficient rule of law construction has been linked to a number of factors, including ambiguous hospital charters, a lack of institutional accountability, conflicting rules, inadequate incentives for healthcare workers ( 26 , 27 ), and a lack of sufficient individual capacity in policy planning and implementation ( 28 , 29 ).…”

How do moral hazard behaviors lead to the waste of medical insurance funds? An empirical study from China

“…Some scholars pointed out that moral hazards can also exist on an organizational level. Frequent triggers for moral hazards are corruption in organizations, the vulnerability of medical service supply chain management systems, and the lack of awareness of self-control fees in medical institutions ( 13 , 64 , 65 ). Furthermore, there are three types of problems in the financing stage, repeated insurance, refusal, or omission of insurance, as well as underpayment of premium.…”

“…The NHS Fraud Authority (NHS CFA) predicted that in the UK the NHS costs around £1.27 billion due to moral hazards such as fraud annually ( 11 ). According to the cases of sanctioning healthcare professionals in South Africa, 51.7% of ethical transgressions were for insurance fraud, and the amount lost per year is about ZAR 13 billion in private healthcare sectors ( 12 , 13 ). Statistics for some Asian countries are also appalling.…”

Justice in the provision of healthcare services – A stifled right in the private sector

“…[19] The consequences of corruption in the healthcare sector come at great cost to tax payers, whose tax money is ironically displaced from being used to improve the quality of healthcare and access to services within the country, towards settling legal disputes. [20] Corruption spread even more rapidly through the COVID-19 pandemic, where the emergence of COVID-19 millionaires turned the crisis into opportunities for selfenrichment, with little being done to ensure that perpetrators were held criminally accountable. [21] Corruption and mismanagement within the public sector make private healthcare even more attractive to those who can afford it.…”