Khadija Magardie and Rachel Kelly
Dr Werner Bezwoda, South Africa’s leading chemotherapist who admitted to misrepresenting research into breast cancer, has escaped censure from the Gauteng government after the province’s health department bungled its probe into the scandal that has rocked the medical world.
Bezwoda, who was last month dismissed by Wits University’s clinical oncology department, slipped through the net after authorities waited until the end of March – the last week of Bezwoda’s employ in the department – to hold a hearing. The planned hearing never took place.
The department’s failure to hold a hearing comes despite damning allegations that Bezwoda forged and backdated a letter from the Johannesburg hospital’s pharmacy and therapeutic committee to approve his trial. This new charge emerged during a disciplinary inquiry last month by Wits University’s ethics committee into Bezwoda’s conduct.
The Department of Health has refused to comment on the nature of all the charges, but confirmed that one “did relate to the alleged forgery of a document relating to procedures for approving research”.
Bezwoda was dismissed by the university on March 10, following a disciplinary hearing. On March 17, he received a notice from the Department of Health informing him of a disciplinary hearing scheduled for March 27 and 28.
The hearing was first postponed on March 27 when Bezwoda’s legal representative asked for further particulars of the allegations against his client, as the department had failed to attach any annexures to their charge sheet, and had not given Bezwoda appropriate notice. The following day, the presiding officer agreed to postpone for a month and then withdrew, saying he had prior commitments. On March 29 Bezwoda received notice that the hearing had been rescheduled for the next day, after the appointment of a new presiding officer, despite the fact that a postponement had been granted. Bezwoda’s lawyers again objected on the grounds of insufficient notice. Bezwoda’s legal counsel has made it clear the doctor is willing to continue with the hearing, despite the fact he is no longer employed by the department. It remains unclear why the department chose to hold the hearings at the 11th hour.
The provincial Department of Health has handed the matter over to the Health Professions Council (HPC) – a regulatory body that has the power to censure or debar medical professionals found guilty of unethical practice.
According to a department representative, Jo-Anne Collinge, “a full dossier of the evidence” will be sent to the HPC. The department has also indicated that it intends to add Bezwoda’s name to a register of “unresolved professional cases” – which would be taken into account should he ever seek re-employment.
Collinge said this week it was possible the department would push ahead with its hearing.
Wits University’s ethics committee found Bezwoda guilty of unethical conduct, and of bringing the university into disrepute.
The disgraced academic and researcher misrepresented the results of clinical trials he conducted into the treatment of advanced stage breast cancer, in order to prove the efficacy of high dosage chemotherapy for such cancers. Bezwoda also allegedly conducted the trials on the women without their consent, all of which came to light after United States investigators started checking his research.