Cardiologist “Gags” Carte Blanche
A Durban-based cardiologist has secured a “gagging order” against Carte Blanche, stopping it from broadcasting a programme in which patients accuse him of medical malpractice for inserting stents unnecessarily.
Dr Ntando Peaceman Duze was given multiple opportunities for more than a week to respond to the allegations raised by his patients, which were corroborated by independent experts. But instead of responding, he launched an urgent application in the Kwazulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Friday.
He gave Carte Blanche only one day’s notice of the application.
Carte Blanche opposed it, arguing that Duze wanted to “bury these allegations for as long as possible if not indefinitely”, and that he was seeking an “unlawful prior restraint on freedom of speech and media”.
But Acting Judge Mpumelelo Sibisi granted an interim interdict, stopping the broadcast scheduled for Sunday 8 June.
Judge Sibisi said Duze needed to be given an opportunity to file a replying affidavit and that Carte Blanche had put a “gun to his head” to answer the questions posed to him. The judge said it would be appropriate to interdict the broadcast until the matter could be properly ventilated.
He set the return date for 13 June. But unless the matter is given a special allocation, it may not be argued and finalised on that day.
Cardiologists accused of defamation
Duze, who runs his practice from Life Westville Hospital, initially cited two other cardiologists in his application, seeking orders that they must desist from making “slanderous, insulting and defamatory remarks” about him.
He put this down to professional jealousy because their patients had moved over to his practice.
He alleged that the two cardiologists had instigated complaints laid by about seven of his patients against him with the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA). He claimed that such was the professional jealousy, that he had been a victim of “witchcraft”, with chicken bones and red [Hindu] strings being left in the operating theatre.
He said the cardiologists had told his patients that “I had opened up their blood vessels” [an apparent reference to stent surgery], when it was unnecessary to do so.
Duze said the complaints to the HPCSA were “baseless”.
The cardiologists opposed the application.
Then on Friday, Duze’s legal team withdrew the claim against the cardiologists, and tendered to pay their legal costs. The lawyers gave no explanation for this. But it came in the wake of Carte Blanche, in its affidavit, saying they had not interviewed the cardiologists. Instead they had interviewed Duze’s aggrieved patients on camera and done follow-up investigations, including obtaining independent medical corroboration based on the patients’ medical records.
Gag order
Duze, in his application, said at any given time he had an average of 50 patients at the hospital, all with heart conditions. He had never before been reported to the HPCSA and, if the allegations against him continued and were made public on Carte Blanche, it would severely harm his reputation, “and may even lead to my financial demise”.
“Carte Blanche launched their own investigation and wants to broadcast a programme about this on Sunday 8 June, which I want to prevent, because it will be filled with untruths and defamation,” he said.
He said Carte Blanche had approached him for comment, and asked 14 specific questions, which he was not prepared to answer because the issue was “sub judice”.
“Once the [HPCSA] has completed its investigation, I will no doubt be willing to be interviewed and explain everything, because I will no doubt be cleared of these false allegations,” he said.
In her opposing affidavit, Carte Blanche producer Mart-Marie Faure said the application was an “abuse of process”.
“It is unsustainable on the facts and law and constitutes an impermissible attempt to obtain a pre-publication interdict in circumstances where no case has been made out for one and such an extreme order is not justified,” she said.
“The complaints, which form the subject matter of the inset entitled ‘Dr Stent’, were initiated by his patients, who had all, they allege, been subjected to unnecessary surgical procedures.
“Independent medical professionals who have been interviewed or consulted all confirm that the applicant [Duze] undertook unnecessary surgery that has had adverse consequences for his patients.
“This has nothing to do with jealous colleagues. The complaints are driven by his patients who allege serious medical malpractice with the most grave medical consequences.”
Faure said she had engaged with Duze and his attorneys for nine days in an attempt to secure answers to her questions “to no avail”.
“Carte Blanche was contacted by patients who claimed they were operated on unnecessarily. They consulted with other medical professionals who have said the insertion of stents was unnecessary. And in fact had caused heart disease when none was previously present.
“They will be required to take blood thinning and other medication for the rest of their lives.
“The HPCSA confirmed it received five complaints against the applicant.
“Life Healthcare has confirmed that it received information regarding allegations against the applicant from the HPCSA and has initiated an investigation.”
Faure said the complaints were not sub judice and that the explanation the doctor would advance to justify his conduct in that investigation would no doubt be the same he would give on camera or in a written response.
“If media houses were required to await the finalisation of proceedings before any professional or regulatory body, the public would be deprived of timely, relevant information on matters of pressing concern,” she said.
“This is antithetical to the very purpose of a free press.
“The patients’ accounts are based on their personal experiences and have been corroborated by independent experts. In every such story the person in respect of whom the investigation is conducted is unhappy. The remedy is to tell their side of the story, which the applicant has been repeatedly offered – not to gag the media.”
Republished from GroundUp under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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