Talk:Frances Ames/Archive 1

Archive 1

Notes

• Ames' employment was threatened by her superiors for pursuing the case. Except for a very small handful of people, the majority of academics and physicians refused to challenge the apartheid-era medical establishment for fear of losing their job and their research funding. It was the threats to her livelihood that kept Ames on the case and pursued justice for Biko against her own interests and the interests of her colleagues.[1]
• Inquest occurred on x date. SAMDC refused disciplinary action against Lang and Tucker
• Both Lang and Tucker were UCT graduates.[2]
• Number of doctors who took the case to the Supreme court varies by source. It often includes: Frances Ames, Edward Barker, Trefor Jenkins, Leslie Robertson, Philip Tobias, Veriava, Mzimane, and Wilson. The official TARC report names only the six doctors involved in the Supreme Court case: Ames, Veriava, Jenkins, Mzimane, Wilson and Tobias.
• Yusuf Veriava et al. took the case to the Supreme Court in Veriava v. President, S. Afr. Medical & Dental Council, [1985] 2 S.A. 293, 297 (Transvaal Prov. Div.)[3]
• Case challenged the corpus of evidence promoted by the SA medical establishment and police reports showing "suicides" and "shamming" were responsible for the deaths of activists. Years later, it would be shown that these deaths were due to murder and execution by the state apparatus with selected medical professionals helping police officers cover up, and in some cases contribute to the deaths of anti-apartheid activists.
• For example, activists were deliberately poisoned with thallium, such as Siphiwe Mtimkulu. Ames worked on this case.[4]
• British Medical Association released a statement saying that the Biko affair had to be addressed or SA physicians could face problems working in other countries.
• Nevertheless, South African physicians who made their anti-apartheid views known were often pushed out of their profession and emigrated to other countries. Raymond Hoffenberg was perhaps the most notable member of this class.
• Years later, Lang was cautioned and Tucker was removed from practice for three months[5]
• Upon readmission, Tucker said, "I came to realise that...I had gradually lost the fearless independence that is required of a medical practitioner when the interest of his patient is threatened. I had become too closely identified with the organs of the state...A medical practitioner...cannot subordinate his patients' interests to extraneous considerations."[6]
• The American Psychological Association apparently never heard of the Biko affair, as they have been accused by journalist James Risen of collaborating with the CIA in promoting enhanced interrogation techniques. History repeats itself again.

Resources to add

• Ames, Frances (July 20, 1991). Letters. S Afr Med J, 80: 107-108.
• Ames, Frances (1920–2002). Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. Gale. 2007. (subscription required)
• Associated Press. (July 6, 1985). Biko death controversy continues. The Milwaukee Sentinel, p. 2.
• Baldwin-Ragaven, Laurel; Leslie London; Jeanelle De Gruchy (1999). An Ambulance of the Wrong Colour: Health Professionals, Human Rights and Ethics in South Africa. Juta and Company Ltd. ISBN 1919713484.
• Lee, Nick (July 5, 1997). Spotlight on South African Medical profession. Lancet, 350 (9070): 39. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)66255-1
• Lee, NC (June 1, 1991). Biko revisited. S Afr Med J, 79(11):635-6.
• McLean, G.R.; Trefor Jenkins (2003). The Steve Biko Affair: A Case Study in Medical Ethics. Developing World Bioethics, 3 (1): 77-95.
• Taitz, Jerold (May 1986). Medical Mores, Judicial Review and the Last Days of Steve Biko. The Modern Law Review 49 (3): 374-381. (subscription required)
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa report, Volume 4. ISBN 0620230797.
• University of Cape Town. Chapter 2: The historical context. Truth and Reconciliation, a Process of Transformation at UCT Health Sciences Faculty. NRF Grant Summary Report 15/1/3/21/002: Social Transformation in South Africa 2002: 18-74.
• Younghusband, Peter (August 27, 1981). Biko's ghost still haunts South African doctors. The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 6.