Article Sidebar
Published:
Nov 24, 2016Article Details
Copyright remains in the Author’s name. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Noncommercial Works License. Authors are required to complete and sign an Author Agreement form that outlines Author and Publisher rights and terms of publication. The Agreement form should be uploaded along with other submissions files and any submission will be considered incomplete without it [forthcoming].
Material submitted for publication in the SAMJ is accepted provided it has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Please inform the editorial team if the main findings of your paper have been presented at a conference and published in abstract form, to avoid copyright infringement. The SAMJ does not hold itself responsible for statements made by the authors.
Previously published images
If an image/figure has been previously published, permission to reproduce or alter it must be obtained by the authors from the original publisher and the figure legend must give full credit to the original source. This credit should be accompanied by a letter indicating that permission to reproduce the image has been granted to the author/s. This letter should be uploaded as a supplementary file during submission.
Main Article Content
The doctor with hepatitis B - some legal issues
Abstract
The purpose of this brief article is to discuss certain legal issues in respect of a doctor who contracts hepatitis B in the course of his practice or in the performance of his duties as an employee. Firstly, there is the question of whether the doctor is entitled to compensation for having fallen prey to an ever-present occupational risk of health-care workers. Secondly, there is the question of whether an infected doctor, who is now a risk to his patients in that he may infect them in the course of his professional activities, would expose himself to a claim for damages should a patient be infected by him. Thirdly, there is the question of whether a doctor who is infected with the disease may continue to practise.
Although this article deals specifically with hepatitis B, the issues examined here are not necessarily confined to that condition. The same issues arise in respect of any serious communicable disease, particularly AIDS. The questions addressed have given rise to a good deal of debate in recent years. A major point of distinction, however, is that the contracting of hepatitis B is preventable by means of immunisation, while there is no vaccine against HIV as yet. Another difference is that AIDS is an incurable condition whereas hepatitis B may resolve spontaneously, although a favourable prognosis is less certain than in cases of virus A infection, especially in the elderly and post-transfusion cases, where the mortality rate may reach 10 - 15%.
