14th June 2011

GP in botched surgery cases commits suicide

The general practitioner who was barred from performing cosmetic surgeries after he conducted illegal botched breast augmentation that left his clients disfigured has committed suicide.

Dr Christiaan Botha committed suicide last weekend, a month before he was to appear before the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) on more charges relating to performing outside the scope of his qualifications.

Botha, who studied medicine at the University of Pretoria, was not a qualified plastic surgeon. He started performing cosmetic surgery after 10 years of “self-study” and helping qualified surgeons.

The HPCSA had set aside a week in July for Botha’s matter but received news last week that he had committed suicide. The hearing related to six new cases of women who had gone to Botha for breast augmentation but had developed complications afterwards.

The HPCSA accused Botha of failing and neglecting to provide proper care to the patients as complications set in. There were eight cases in all but Botha paid an admission of guilt fine for the other two when he appeared before a preliminary committee of inquiry recently.

Botha’s lawyer, advocate Johan Stroh, said he did not know what could have caused Botha to take his own life but believed that it was because “it all got too much for him”.