Court rules celebrated but socially thoughtless oncologist may continue patient care at Vincent Palotti

On 15 April in the Western Cape High Court, Judge Eduard Wille ruled on a matter involving oncologist Louis Kathan, lauded for his “outstanding” results, allowing his continued presence in the Life Care Vincent Palotti hospital complex in Pinelands.

Judge Wille ruled that terminating the relationship with Kathan “had constituted an interference with the rights to access healthcare services and was a breach of the negative obligations imposed on the hospital respondents”.

He found that the decision also impeded the rights of the applicants to make decisions about their healthcare.

“Thus, where the exercise of power by a private body has public consequences, it may (depending on the circumstances, the context and the factual matrix) be regarded as an exercise of public power,” reads the judgment.

While Life Healthcare Holdings did not deny that the public had an interest in the hospital acting in a lawful, ethical and rational manner, it also appreciated that the decision had affected the health of Kathan’s patients.

Judge Wille said that the public interest in the matter concerned fundamental constitutional rights. 

“Self-evidently, the hospital respondents have a negative constitutional obligation not to undermine the right of access to healthcare. I say this also because of the peculiar facts of this matter,” he said.

The peculiar facts the judge was referring to are what led to the hospital’s decision to terminate the relationship with the popular oncologist after more than a decade.

‘Sexist, homophobe’

Patients first