Publisher

TWO CHARGES AGAINST PRO-LIFE DOCTOR SET ASIDE

Doctors For Life International welcomes the progress made in defending Dr Jacques de Vos against the persecution he had to endure for advising that an unborn baby is a human being. Dr De Vos has been barred from continuing with his medical career for more than two years now and has been charged with unprofessional conduct by the HPCSA. His hearing has been delayed and rescheduled, and charges have been changed on more than one occasion. On 28 and 29 October 2019, Dr De Vos’ legal team argued among other things, that the delays render the hearing unfair and the charges are unlawful.

On 3 December 2019 the Disciplinary Committee made a ruling that counts 3 and 4 are set aside and that the hearing is to continue on counts 1 and 2 only. This means that the only charge now facing Dr De Vos is that he tried to convince a woman not to authorise a doctor to kill her healthy 19 week old unborn child.

Secondly, after some two years of linking their refusal to sign Dr De Vos off with the outstanding disciplinary proceedings, the Wynberg Military Hospital has now abandoned this position. (In this regard the Disciplinary Committee of the HPSCA in effect in its reasons delivered on Tuesday has confirmed this de-linking. Prior to this despite letters to the HPSCA requesting clarity on this, no response was forthcoming from the HPSCA.)

The hearing will continue on *9 December 2019* at the Southern Sun Hotel, Newlands, Cape Town. The parties will try and reach an agreement about the future conduct of this matter as regards to the single incident relating to the unborn child.

Dr De Vos, who is a member of Doctors For Life International (DFL) is supported by DFL and legal team (De Wet Wepener Attorneys and Adv Keith Matthee SC) on a pro bono basis.

For more information, please contact Martus De Wet at [email protected]

DR DE VOS UPDATE

26 November 2019

The Disciplinary committee must give their decision (together with reasons) whether to dismiss counts 3 and 4, and give their reasons for not dismissing counts 1 and 2.

Until then, Dr de Vos is not in a position to decide whether to apply to the High Court for review.

The next hearing date is 09 December 2019 at the Southern Sun, Newlands, Cape Town.

For more information contact: Martus De Wet of De Wet Wepener Attorneys at 057 004 0004 / Email: [email protected]

Marijuana Vaping Outbreak — Not Just a Black Market Issue

By Colton Grace

• 86 percent of the cases of illness and at least 2 deaths in this marijuana vaping outbreak have been connected to THC oils.

• At a time when we are investigating the causes of this rash of deaths and illnesses connected to marijuana oils and vapes, all marijuana legalization efforts and THC vaping oil sales should pause.

• This is not a black-market issue, it is the result of allowing Big Marijuana – an addiction- for-profit drug industry backed by Big Tobacco and companies like Juul – to mass produce these oils and vapes, along with candies, gummies, and other dangerously potent forms of the drug.

• Big Tobacco, E-Cigarette and Vaping Companies and the Marijuana industry share many of the same investors. The industries are connected by billions in investments.

FAQs:

Is the Vaping Crisis a reason to legalize marijuana?

No. Many “licensed, regulated” pot shops are selling the vapes at the center of this crisis, such as a confirmed case in Delaware and a death in Oregon. This crisis is an indication that a legalized marijuana industry will be just as difficult to regulate and as detrimental to public health as the tobacco industry (which is now invested in marijuana). All legalization efforts should pause given this crisis only 6 years into recreational legalization in Colorado and Washington State.

What’s more, researchers are still quite unclear as to the culprit responsible for the illness and death. The only unifying factor in the majority of cases is the presence of THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana. As such, no amount of “regulation” or “testing” can guarantee these devices are safe to use. The CDC and the FDA seem to agree, as they have urged Americans to avoid using any marijuana vaping device

Is the vaping crisis exclusively a black-market problem?

No. The CDC and FDA are asking the public to stop using all THC vapes, whether from the black market or “licensed” pot shops. Many “licensed, regulated” pot shops are selling the vapes at the center of this crisis, such as a confirmed case in Delaware and a death in Oregon. A recent study out of Colorado found that in cheap marijuana vaping devices, a soldering material may leak harmful heavy metals into vaping liquids when heated. This backs up a recent study by the Mayo Clinic finding several lung tissue samples from victims of the illness feature what resemble chemical burns, similar to the effects of mustard gas.

Logically, cheap vaping devices make greater targets for diversion to the black market, given the possibility of a greater profit margin. We have long known that the legal market fuels the illegal market and it was recently discovered that a marijuana vaping device producer in Californiawas supplying devices that couldn’t pass inspections to the black market.

Facts:

• At least 37 people have died from severe respiratory complications associated with vaping. At least 1,888 cases have been reported across the United States.i

• 84 percent of the deaths investigated have been associated with THC.ii

• Two of the deaths have been connected to marijuana products, one of which was associated with marijuana oil purchased at a legal dispensary in Oregon.iii No other states have released information about the kinds of vapes that were linked to the deaths.

• Reports link marijuana vapes to 86 percent of the lung illnesses being reported in the wake of the vaping epidemic.iv

• Though the marijuana industry blames illicit vaporizers exclusively for using Vitamin E acetate, one source working within the industry, Andrew Jones of Mr. Extractor, has said that 60 to 70 percent of all vapes contain Vitamin E acetate. Even still, no health official has pointed to any individual cause.v

• New York state has issued subpoenas to several vape companies as the investigation mounts.vi

• Medical marijuana users in Maryland have reported symptoms consistent with the lung illnesses resulting from vaping.vii

• According to the CDC, 36 percent of the victims of the vaping-related illnesses are 20 years old or younger.viii

• A recent study showed adolescents who vaped were 3.5 times as likely to smoke marijuana.ix

• Since Monitoring the Future (MTF) first began recording vaping trends among young people in 2017, the survey has demonstrated significant increases among key demographics. In 2017, 1.6 percent of 8th graders, 4.3 percent of 10th graders, and 4.9 percent of 12th graders reported past-month marijuana vaping use. In 2018 the numbers increased to 2.6 percent, 7 percent, and 7.5 percent respectively.x

• The MTF notes that “the doubling from 5.2% in 2017 to 10.9% in 2018 of 30-day prevalence of vaping marijuana among college students is among the largest one-year proportion increases for any substance” in 40 years.xi

• In Arizona, a survey of 50,000 10th and 12th graders found that one quarter (25%) of teens were using has used highly potent marijuana concentrates at least once.

PDF version of this article: https://learnaboutsam.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/11-01TP.pdf

References:

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/p1028-first-analysis-lung-injury-deaths.html

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/severe-lung-disease.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/09/05/vaping-death-oregon-man-dies-thc-vape-%20dispensary/2218501001/

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1911614

https://www.inverse.com/article/59207-vitamin-e-acetate-thc-vapes

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2748383

http://www.monitoringthefuture.org//pubs/monographs/mtf-vol2_2018.pdf

https://www.livescience.com/marijuana-concentrates-teen-use.html

WMA DECLARATION ON EUTHANASIA AND PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE

Adopted by the 70th WMA General Assembly, Tbilisi, Georgia, October 2019

The WMA reiterates its strong commitment to the principles of medical ethics and that utmost respect has to be maintained for human life. Therefore, the WMA is firmly opposed to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

For the purpose of this declaration, euthanasia is defined as a physician deliberately administering a lethal substance or carrying out an intervention to cause the death of a patient with decision-making capacity at the patient’s own voluntary request. Physician-assisted suicide refers to cases in which, at the voluntary request of a patient with decision-making capacity, a physician deliberately enables a patient to end his or her own life by prescribing or providing medical substances with the intent to bring about death.

No physician should be forced to participate in euthanasia or assisted suicide, nor should any physician be obliged to make referral decisions to this end.

Separately, the physician who respects the basic right of the patient to decline medical treatment does not act unethically in forgoing or withholding unwanted care, even if respecting such a wish results in the death of the patient.

WMA Declaration on Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide
WMA DECLARATION ON EUTHANASIA

PRO LIFE DR DE VOS HPCSA HEARING UPDATE RULINGS AND REASONS OF DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE’S DECISION AWAITED APPLICATION FOR REVIEW TO HIGH COURT CONSIDERED

Media Release

The long-awaited professional conduct hearing of Dr De Vos, who allegedly advised a mother that her unborn baby is a human being, started on 27 and 28 October 2019 in Cape Town. Over two days, four grounds were argued as to why all the charges against Dr De Vos should be set aside. 

In essence, these grounds were: 

1. The HPSCA did not follow its own regulations before the decision to charge Dr De Vos and thus the hearing was a nullity. 

2. The charges were too vague to enable dr De Vos to prepare his defence. 

3. The length of time between when action was first taken against him, April 2017, and the eventual hearing on 29th October 2019, was excessive and for various reasons unfair. In this regard amongst other things the following was emphasized: All the delays were caused by the HPSCA, without any explanation a single charge was withdrawn in July 2018, only to be reinstated a few months later in November 2018, only to be replaced by four wholly new charges some 3 weeks before the first day of the hearing in August 2019, the severe ongoing prejudice to dr De Vos who as a result of the conduct of the HPSCA has not been able to practice as a doctor since June 2017 up to the present day, despite not yet having had a hearing. 

4. Bad faith by the HPSCA – numerous examples were given, including the changing of the charge sheets and the failure to give necessary information in terms of undertakings by it. 

Various decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal were relied on by Dr De Vos.

During the first day, the prosecutor for the first time provided some of the information sought by De Vos to prepare for the hearing (e.g. a medical report), and conceded that other crucial information is not in their possession (e.g. the text messages referred to in the charges, and the statement by the complainant (patient) in charges 1 & 2). 

At the end of the second day, after a short adjournment by the disciplinary committee of the HPSCA, it ruled that counts 1 and 2  “were properly before it” (which suggests it was thinking of the nullity argument) and could continue. Furthermore, it stated that it still had to decide about counts 3 and 4. No reasons were provided at the time of the ruling, and the Committee said it would give its reasons for its decision later.

Dr De Vos’s legal representative informed the committee that before they could decide on the way ahead, they needed a decision about counts 3 and 4 and the reasons for all their decisions. The main reason for wanting the reasons is so that a decision can be made as to whether the decision should be taken to the High Court on review. The disciplinary committee was also informed that a piecemeal approach, starting with counts 1 and 2 whilst they made a decision on counts 3 and 4, was impractical and ill advised.

What is of possible significance is that when it made its ruling the committee of the HPSCA stated that counts 1 and 2 were “properly” before it. This suggests that at this stage the committee had only addressed the nullity argument of Dr De Vos, and not the arguments as regards the vagueness of the charges, that a fair hearing was no longer possible and that the matter was driven by bad faith on the part of the HPSCA. When clarity was asked for in this regard, the chairperson stated that their ruling also took into account the other said points. This is one of the reasons why the reasons of the committee are so important – to enable the legal representatives of Dr De Vos to try and understand how the committee arrived at its decision, not least of all how it dealt with the cited decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal. This is crucial before the legal representatives advise Dr De Vos on the way ahead. 

Dr De Vos, who is a member of Doctors For Life International (DFL) is supported by DFL and legal team (De Wet Wepener Attorneys and Adv Keith Matthee SC) on a pro bono basis. For more information, please contact Doctors For Life International at 032 481 5550 or [email protected]

29 October 2019, DE VOS UPDATE:

The legal team for Dr De Vos argued that the case against him is a nullity and that it should be struck off the roll. Arguments continued until 16h30 and will continue today at 9h30.

Among other things, De Vos’ legal team argued that the charges are vague, the delay of almost three years is excessive, and that the HPCSA has not provided the prescribed information to De Vos’ legal team despite the ruling of the disciplinary committee on 27 August.

The HPCSA prosecutor argued that all information has been provided. This was disputed by De Vos’ legal team. Some additional information was then provided.

However, the committee must still rule on all the points raised by De Vos’ legal team.

Arguments will continue tomorrow at 9h30 at the Southern Sun Hotel, Newlands.

More more information contact Doctors For Life International at [email protected]

DR DE VOS HPCSA HEARING UPDATE

The HPCSA prosecutor confirmed that hearing will proceed on *28, 29 and 30 October 2019* at the Southern Sun Hotel, Newlands. Dr de Vos’ legal team will apply to the six-member disciplinary committee to strike the matter permanently from the roll. The hearing starts at *10h00* and is open to the public to attend.

Despite best effort of Dr de Vos’ legal team to obtain the prescribed documents needed for a fair hearing, the HPCSA has not provided it since 2017.  Dr de Vos (who is member of DFL) has been barred (without a hearing) from practising medicine since July 2017 on allegations that he advised a woman that her unborn child is a human being. He was then charged for unprofessional conduct by the HPCSA but the hearing has been delayed on a number of occasions by the HPCSA.

For more information, please contact Doctors For Life International at 032 481 5550 or [email protected]
(Issued by Doctors For Life International)

Kingsley Holgate heads to Zambezi Delta on ‘Vision Mission’

Kingsley Holgate’s crew have loaded up their expedition Land Rovers and headed for Mozambique with their sturdy ‘Ma Robert’ inflatable pontoon boat in tow, to assist the non-profit Doctors For Life International (DFL) team in conducting free, life-changing, cataract operations in the Zambezi Delta, as part of DFL’s Aid to Africa programme.

The Kingsley Holgate Foundation is taking its Mashozi’s Rite to Sight programme to a new level with this campaign, called ‘Vision Mission’.

In keeping with using adventure to improve lives, the Kingsley Holgate Foundation’s focus on helping those with poor eyesight was started more than a decade ago by Mashozi (Gill) Holgate. ‘I remember the day clearly,’ says Kingsley.

‘We were on our 23° 27 Capricorn round-the-world-by-Land-Rover Expedition, in South America close to the Piranha River, in the company of a team of rangers. They told us that they were about to evict an old man who had lived all his life in a local village because he was becoming a danger to himself and others – he’d nearly burned down his hut several times whilst trying to light his stove. We went with them to the old man’s hut and sure enough, there he was, fumbling with a box of matches. The problem was – he couldn’t see properly.

‘I don’t know what made Mashozi think of it, but she suddenly rummaged in her big expedition bag, brought out a pair of her own basic readers and popped them on the old man’s nose. Miraculously, they were the perfect strength. A look of complete surprise came over his face, followed by a big, toothy grin as for the first time in years, he could see clearly again. There were claps and cheers from the rangers as the old man confidently struck the match, lit his stove and made us each a cup of coffee. The rangers allowed him to stay in his home and that was the start of our Mashozi’s Rite to Sight programme, named in her honour. Since then, it’s gone from strength to strength; after careful eye tests, we’ve distributed over 200,000 pairs of reading glasses to poor-sighted, mostly elderly people in remote areas all over Africa and beyond. The instant gratitude from the recipients and the immediate difference it makes in their lives is heart-warming.’

DFL has performed 2,500 eye surgeries throughout Africa over the past decade, helping to reverse blindness and dramatically change lives. This Zambezi Delta Vision outreach is in response to a call for help to assist blind people in the Marromeu, Luabo and Chinde areas. DFL and the Kingsley Holgate Foundation are transporting two mobile operating theatres to Marromeu on the banks of the Zambezi River, along with a team of volunteer doctors and nurses from South Africa and eSwatini, with the aim of conducting at least 200 cataract surgeries during August.

‘We are incredibly honoured to be a part of this humanitarian mission,’ says expedition leader Ross Holgate. ‘We know the Zambezi River well and our role will be to provide ground support. Using our three Land Rovers and the ‘Ma Robert’ boat, we’ll be criss-crossing the Zambezi Delta, conducting our normal malaria prevention and Mashozi Rite to Sight spectacle-distribution work, and at the same time, assessing patients that need more stringent, corrective eye surgery. The DFL doctors will train our expedition team on what cataract symptoms to look for and we will transport patients and their family members by water and road to the operating theatres, and then return them home after their eye surgery. It’s going to be a lot of hard work in difficult conditions with tricky logistics; just the amount of expedition kit, including the bolt-together ‘Ma Robert’ boat and medical equipment that’s being transported 2,000 kilometres to the Delta, is quite unbelievable.’

Also supporting this humanitarian effort is the non-profit Mercy Air group, which recently played a vital role in providing emergency air support after Cyclone Idai devastated central Mozambique, rescuing hundreds of victims and transporting tonnes of food, drinking water, medical supplies and personnel to flood-stricken communities. For this Zambezi Delta mission, Mercy Air is providing a helicopter and aeroplane to transport cataract patients living in inaccessible villages to the operating theatres by air.

‘The capabilities of our tried-and-tested Land Rover Discoverys and faithful old Defender 130 are really going to be needed,’ continues Ross. ‘These are the same vehicles that took us safely to Africa’s extreme easterly point in dangerous Somalia in 2017 and completed the 17,000-kilometre transcontinental Cape Town to Kathmandu expedition last year, making short work of below-freezing, high-altitude and snow-filled mountain passes. Then in April this year, they delivered tonnes of malaria prevention supplies and clean drinking water to flooded communities near Gorongosa National Park that were badly affected by Cyclone Idai.’

Zambezi Vision Mission at a glance:

– 3 Expedition Land Rovers

– 2 Mercy Air aircraft

– 2 Doctors For Life mobile operating theatres

– 1 large, inflatable pontoon-type ‘Ma Robert’ boat and tender

– 22 personnel

– 10 tonnes of equipment

– 2,000Km of rough roads

– 230Km of coastline and 18,000Km² of swamps, floodplains and savannah in the Zambezi Delta

– 200+ cataract operations

– 1,000 recipients of Mashozi’s Rite to Sight eye-testing and spectacle distribution.

 

Text and images: Kingsely Holgate Foundation – Link to article

 

Link to article –

DFL member Dr de Vos takes a stand against abortion and then gets charged by HPCSA for misconduct.”

Please read the following articles about Dr de Vos:

SOWETAN LIVE

A hearing by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) against an anti-abortion doctor got off to a rocky start and had to be temporarily adjourned on Tuesday in Cape Town. Jacques de Vos, 32, is facing charges of unprofessional conduct and was prohibited from practising medicine due to his views on abortion. READ MORE

EYEWITNESS NEWS

A doctor, prohibited from practising medicine over his views on abortion, will face the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) on Tuesday. Doctor Jacques de Vos reportedly believes abortion constitutes the killing of an unborn human being. De Vos was a medical intern at 2 Military Hospital in Wynberg when he made the utterance to a patient. He was then fired more than two years ago. READ MORE

IOL NEWS

An intern doctor and anti-abortionist appeared before a disciplinary hearing yesterday for allegedly dissuading a pregnant woman from terminating her pregnancy and likening it to the “killing of a human being”. READ MORE

ALGOA FM

A former military hospital doctor will appear before a disciplinary inquiry in Cape Town on Tuesday after being barred from practising as a doctor. Dr Jacques De Vos, who was a medical intern at 2 Military Hospital, was suspended two years ago after advising a patient that abortion is the killing of an unborn human being. READ MORE