Herman Edeling

He served SAMLA (South African Medico Legal Association) as director from 2005 to 2020, in various capacities as deputy chairperson, faculty principal, clinical negligence director and mediation director, and in 2020 was awarded honorary life membership. In SAMLA he led the development of a series of pioneering UCT-partnered postgraduate training courses in medico-legal practice; guidelines and protocols for medical mediation; clinical negligence mediation pilot projects with provincial departments of health; and the SAMLA-RAF personal injury mediation pilot project. He has also served the HPCSA-RAF Appeal Tribunals as member and as chairperson; as well as the Association for the Protection of Road Accident Victims (APRAV) as chairperson of the Solutions Task Team Medical Committee. He has co-authored three publications in peer reviewed journals on serious injury determination, the narrative test and the functioning of HPCSA appeal tribunals. He has written thousands of medico-legal reports and has testified in court as an expert witness in hundreds of matters. He has mediated 45 medico-legal disputes. He is passionate about medical science, ethical practice and the promotion of mutual respect and understanding. He believes in the capacity of the mediation process to resolve conflict by harnessing the power of constructive self-determination of the parties to the dispute.