The consumer protection act that has recently been implemented in South Africa protects buyers from multiple adverse situations, by giving them a legal foot to stand on. http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/how-the-new-consumer-law-protects-you-1.1020996 . How does this act affect service providers such as medical practitioners, psychologist, and counsellors?
According to the act section 54 a consumer has the right to good quality services, in a timely manner, with the expected quality agreed to by the provider and consumer, without any property being harmed while the service is being provided. If the service provider does not comply with this the consumer has the right to request the service provider to fix the problems or to refund the consumer a reasonable portion of the price paid. http://www.michalsons.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/consumer_protection_act_68_2008.pdf http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/consumer-protection-act-explained-1.1041008
If one were to literally translate this into the medical practice context, it paints a disturbing and scary picture for psychologists. It implies that should a client not be happy with the services that they receive in therapy, they will be entitled to get the services that they demand or a partial refund. The nature of receiving services from a psychologist is a complex and multidimensional process; it requires both the consumer and the practitioner to become involved in a changing relationship. Unfortunately there is no guarantee that such services with be effective as there is no one formulae that can be applied to all consumers. Therefore does this new act leave psychologists and counsellor in murky water where they can expect an increase in law suits?
Although the consumer protection act from the outside creates a concern surrounding an increase in litigation in the medical field, all hope is not lost. According to Dinnie (2009) if consumers (patients) are unhappy with the services that they receive in the medical context they will be better off relying on the common law, as a partial refund of the services will not cover all the expenses to allow the consumer to seek additional medical help. For example if a consumer undergoes surgery and is not happy with the results, if they claim under the new consumer protection act, they will be allowed a partial refund or the same surgeon fixing the problem. If the client was to claim a partial refund this would not cover the expenses to allow the consumer to seek additional medical help. The consumer would be better off relying on the common law, where they would be able to claim more for the incident, by suing for negligence and malpractice. In the mental healthcare although nothing concrete has been written one would think that the same would apply, thus not changing the legal umbrella that we are currently under. http://www.sajbl.org.za/index.php/sajbl/article/viewFile/62/48 http://proffessa.co.za/articles/how-will-the-new-consumer-protection-act-affect-your-medical-practice/
In conjunction with the above, it has been determined by the minister that the consumer protection act is applicable only to those companies that are above the threshold of two million annual turnovers. This means that the smaller practices are not affected by the new consumer protection act. http://www.polity.org.za/article/consumer-protection-act-682008-determination-of-threshold-in-terms-of-the-act-gazette-no-34181-notice-294-2011-04-01 . http://us-cdn.creamermedia.co.za/assets/articles/attachments/32645_n294.pdf
The fear of having an increase in litigation, in medical practices due to this new act is unfounded. If the client decides to use the consumer protection act the medical practice would need to have an annual turnover of above two million rand for the act to apply. Resulting in only the bigger practices being affected by it; however consumers are more likely to sue for negligence and malpractice (in the common law) than the new consumer protection act.
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