MEC for Health, Western Cape v Coboza

The respondent underwent surgery in May/June 1998 at Somerset Hospital where a spinal anaesthetic was administered. Thereafter he experienced pain and walking difficulties, receiving treatment at Tygerberg Hospital during 1998 and 1999. Further surgery, including a laminectomy in July 1999 and later procedures in 2005, failed to prevent deterioration, and by November 2005 he was irreversibly paraplegic. In July 2016 he instituted an action against the MEC for Health, Western Cape, alleging that negligent failure by medical staff to timeously administer appropriate treatment after the 1998 surgery caused his neurological damage. The MEC raised a special plea that the claim had prescribed under the Prescription Act and that statutory notice requirements had not been met.

The appeal was dismissed with costs, and the dismissal of the special plea of prescription was upheld.

The case clarifies the application of s 12(3) of the Prescription Act in medical negligence claims, emphasising the distinction between primary facts and legal conclusions. It underscores that a plea of prescription cannot succeed in the abstract and must be grounded in clearly pleaded factual causes of the alleged harm.