Legal

Media Release

Embargo: Immediate release                                   Enquiries:   Doctors For Life Int.

Date:      01 February 2022                                         Telephone:   032 481 5550

The Review Application of Dr De Vos against the Health Professions Council of South Africa is to heard on 1 February 2022 in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. Dr De Vos is asking the High Court to review and set aside the HPCSA’s decision to refuse to reconvene the professional conduct hearing against him.

Dr De Vos was charged with unprofessional conduct for allegedly advising a mother that her 19-week healthy unborn baby was a human being. The proceedings against Dr De Vos by the HPCSA started in 2017. In December 2020 Dr De Vos pleaded “not guilty”. The HPCSA then refused to reconvene the hearing so that the committee could hear the case and deliver a verdict, and cited as reason that the “complainant does not want to proceed”.

Since July 2017 Dr De Vos been unable to proceed with this career as the HPCSA would not issue him with a Medical Practitioner number as the hearing had not been concluded.

The HPCSA is opposing the application. Dr De Vos is represented by Adv K Matthee SC and Adv AR Duminy (instructed by De Wet Wepener Inc c/o Maphalla Mokate Conradi) and the HPCSA is represented by Adv M Majozi (instructed by Mgeno & Mteto Inc).

Doctors For Life has been assisting Dr De Vos since the beginning of 2017 with legal representation as well as renowned expert witnesses in the fields of embryology, human anatomy and psychology.

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

Media Release

Embargo: Immediate release                                   Enquiries:   Doctors For Life Int.

Date:      22 January 2021                                         Telephone:   032 481 5550

Dr Jacques de Vos, whose professional conduct hearing has been delayed by the HPCSA since 2017, has applied to the North Gauteng High Court to compel the HPCSA to finalise the hearing against him. In 2017 Dr De Vos has been suspended from the gynaecology rotation during his internship at 2 Military Hospital, Cape Town after he advised a woman that her 19-week old unborn baby is a human life.

Since July 2017 Dr De Vos has been prevented from practising medicine and has been charged with unprofessional conduct. For the past three and a half years the HPCSA has been delaying the hearing against him, applied for postponements, and unilaterally withdrew the charges against Dr De Vos only to reinstate it almost a year later.
In December 2019 Dr De Vos pleaded “not guilty” to the charges against him. Despite the best efforts of his legal team, the HPCSA ignored Dr De Vos’ pleas to state his case. In September 2020 the HPCSA again unilaterally “withdrew” the charges for a second time. Lawyers for Dr De Vos will argue in the High Court that he is entitled to a conviction or acquittal because he has entered a plea, and that the HPCSA must proceed with the hearing with urgency.

Dr De Vos, who is wheelchair-bound, has faced severe ongoing prejudice as the result of the unexplained delays, failure to meet deadlines, and refusal to provide Dr De Vos with information of his alleged “misdemeanours”. This, despite Dr De Vos being ready to state his case, and despite expert witnesses in human anatomy and psychiatry being ready to testify.

Dr De Vos is a member of Doctors For Life International and has been assisting him with his case including fundraising to cover expenses (all lawyers are working pro-bono though), and arranging expert witnesses. For more information, contact Doctors For Life at [email protected]

MEDIA RELEASE

Embargo: Immediate release                                      Enquiries:  Doctors For Life Int.

Date:        09 September 2020                                    Telephone: 032 481 5550

The hearing of Dr De Vos (charged by the HPCSA for advising that an unborn baby is a human life), will hopefully resume within the next three to four weeks. In November 2019 the HPCSA Professional Conduct Committee declared two of the four charges against Dr De Vos as unlawful. In December 2019 Dr De Vos pleaded “not guilty” to the remaining two charges. The HPCSA then asked for a postponement until April 2020 to give it time to apply to the High Court to set aside the decision of the Committee to strike two of the four charges. 

In April 2020 the prosecutor informed attorneys of Dr De Vos that the hearing is postponed due to COVID-19. Despite efforts to obtain a new date from the HPCSA to proceed with the hearing, Dr De Vos’ attorneys only received confirmation in September that the HPCSA prosecutor is ready to proceed. The actual date is still outstanding. 

Dr De Vos has been barred from practising medicine since 2016 when he was suspended due to his views that the unborn child is a human being. Since then he has been charged with unprofessional conduct but the hearing has been delayed several times by the HPCSA prosecutors. In the meantime, Dr De Vos cannot practice medicine and is being punished for his pro-life views. 

Dr De Vos’ is supported by Doctors For Life International, and represented by Senior Advocate Keith Matthee and De Wet Wepener Attorneys. A number of experts witnesses, such as Dr Chris Warton (lecturer in Human Anatomy and Embryology at the University of Cape Town) and Prof Priscilla Coleman (Human Development, Bowling Green University) are due to testify at the hearing. 

The legal team are acting pro bono (charge no fees). However, costs are mounting and contributions can be made to expenses of the case.  

https://www.backabuddy.co.za/jacques-de-vos

For more information, contact Doctors For Life at [email protected] or 032 481 5550.

Lawyers for Dr Jacques de Vos, who has been charged by the HPCSA for allegedly advising a mother that her healthy 19 week unborn baby is a human being, have given notice to the HPCSA that US professor Priscilla Coleman may be called as an expert witness.

Prof Coleman, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA is a leading international expert on abortion and mental health. According to Prof Coleman, “over the past several decades, the number of peer-reviewed studies identifying adverse mental health outcomes associated with abortion have increased dramatically”.

She states that “hundreds of studies have revealed that women who choose abortion experience increased risk of mental health problems, including substance abuse, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and suicide, among other conditions and symptoms”.

Her research offers the largest quantitative estimate of mental health risks associated with abortion available in the world. Results (involving 877 297 participants, 163 880 of whom experienced an abortion) revealed that women who aborted compared to women who have not, experienced 81% increased risk for mental health problems. The results revealed that women who have abortions have the following increased risks: anxiety disorders 34%, depression 37%, alcohol abuse 110%, marijuana abuse 220% and suicide behaviours 155%.

After many delays on the part of the HPCSA since 2017, Dr De Vos pleaded “not guilty” to professional misconduct before a HPCSA Professional Conduct Committee in December 2019. The HPCSA prosecutor must now commence with evidence at the hearing scheduled on 2 April 2020 in Cape Town.

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 contact Doctors For Life at [email protected] or 032 481 5550.

The commanding officer of 2 Military Hospital has written to the attorneys of Dr JH De Vos, acknowledging that wrong has been done by preventing Dr De Vos from being signed off as a medical intern.

Dr De Vos was a medical intern at 2 Military Hospital when he was suspended without a hearing from the Gynaecology rotation for his views that the unborn child is a human being. The Intern Curator, Dr Ismail, together with the head of gynaecology, Dr Van Wyk were responsible for taking this action at the beginning of 2017. Dr De Vos’ internship was completed in June 2017 after which he was due to start his community service. However, the Dr Van Wyk (gynaecology) and Dr Walele (paediatrics) then refused to sign Dr De Vos off, effectively barring him starting his community service.

Dr De Vos was then charged with unprofessional conduct, and after more than two years of delays, the professional conduct committee on 3 December 2019 struck down two of the charges against Dr De Vos and confirmed that the disciplinary hearing does not stop the hospital from signing Dr De Vos off.

In the meantime the new officer commanding of 2 Military Hospital has written to Dr De Vos’ attorneys, acknowledging the wrongful actions of his predecessors and committed to assisting Dr De Vos to be signed off. Subsequently, the paediatrics department confirmed that Dr De Vos is signed off.

*Despite all these developments, Dr Van Wyk persistently refuses to sign Dr De Vos off. Lawyers for Dr De Vos are now considering his options to take Dr Van Wyk and or Dr Ismail to Court to compel them to sign him off, and for compensation for the damages that he has suffered, in their personal capacities.*

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 contact Doctors For Life at [email protected]  or 057 004 0004.

It has now established that the baby Dr De Vos tried to save was 19/20 weeks old. Here is very short clip of the development of an unborn baby between 16 to 19 weeks.

Media Release

The hearing of Dr De Vos resumed today in respect of counts 1 and 2 (that he tried to persuade a mother not to kill her healthy 19-week-old baby). As the hearing started the lawyers for Dr De Vos indicated that the HPCSA still had not complied with the ruling of the Disciplinary Committee on 30 August 2019, i.e. they had not provided the information needed for Dr De Vos to plead.

The Committee Chairperson indicated that, as a result of the prosecutor failing to provide the information, the Committee wanted to relook at whether there is any bad faith on the part of the HPCSA.

Dr De Vos then waived his right to claim that the HPCSA were acting in bad faith in order to proceed with the hearing. His reason for waiving this right among other things was that after 2 ½ years of bad faith by those driving the matter against him, the time had come for the truth of the matter to be heard.  The hearing then proceeded and De Vos pleaded “not guilty” to counts 1 and 2. Below is a copy of Dr De Vos’ plea wherein he briefly set out the truth of the matter.

The hearing has been set down for 2, 3, 22 and 23 April 2020.

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]

Read Dr de Vos’s plea here:

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]