Beale's treatment of boy (3) who later died, was in line with standard practice, court told
The State alleges that in one of the cases in the matter, Beale misrepresented to a three-year-old boy’s parents that he had a condition called Hirschsprung's Disease and thus required surgery.
Murder-accused paediatric surgeon Peter Beale appeared in the Johannesburg High Court on 29 January 2024. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The Joburg High Court has heard that murder-accused paediatric surgeon Peter Beale’s treatment of a three-year-old boy who later died was in keeping with standard practice at the time.
Beale faces three charges of murder and two of fraud, both linked to the deaths of three children he operated on.
It’s alleged he undertook “unnecessary and inappropriate” surgeries to recoup money he lost in a tanked investment.
Wednesday marked the third day of his trial.
The State alleges that in one of the cases in the matter, Beale misrepresented to a three-year-old boy’s parents that he had a condition called Hirschsprung's Disease and thus required surgery - - when in truth a biopsy had shown he did not have the condition.
In his plea explanation, Beale says he didn’t operate on the child for Hirschsprung’s Disease but rather a variant of it, and that treatment for the two is the same.
On Wednesday, his counsel, Advocate Ian Greene, pointed to the judgment from the disciplinary panel that Beale came before in connection with this case - which the current witness sat on.
In the judgment, the panel pointed to evidence from the pathologist that just because the biopsy didn’t indicate Hirschsrung’s Disease, that didn’t exclude the variant.
He also presented literature from the time that indicated there was no consensus in terms of how to diagnose the variant at that stage, and that the surgery the child received was the generally accepted treatment at the time.