Last month, we brought you the disturbing stories of a number of parents who claim that Dr. Peter Beale, a top Joburg surgeon, was allegedly responsible for the deaths of eight children.

Dr. Beale, who was initially suspended from practicing at Mediclinic hospitals in 2016 and recently barred from Netcare theatres, is under investigation for his alleged role in these deaths.

Since then it has come to light that 11 people have come forward, accusing the surgeon of leaving their children ‘maimed’.

TimesLIVE reports that now, despite the investigation and upcoming court case, Dr. Beale will be receiving an award for his contribution to paediatric medicine.

The ceremony, to be held on Saturday in Johannesburg, will honour some of the country’s top paediatricians for their contributions to the medical field and the lives of children they have helped.

The ceremony’s organiser and fellow paediatrician, Dr Lucia Singh, said as a paediatric surgeon, Beale had contributed to saving the lives of thousands of children over his “extensive and exemplary” 40-year career.

“We decided to bestow an award on Beale long before the saga developed. The award is being bestowed on him for his long-term service. He has done so much work in helping thousands of children. No one can match his CV.

Maybe he has, but this is not the time to start handing out awards. To make things worse, Singh goes on to defend what happened to the 19 children that died or were hurt in his care.

“When paediatricians cannot do anything for a child and the child is critically ill, that is when paediatric surgeons come in to the rescue.

“The children Beale takes to theatre are often critically sick. In a high-risk job, you are going to have children dying.

“Everything is not his fault. If you are a surgeon, you have certain responsibilities, and not all the blame can be put on the surgeon for every death that happens.”

Now we know how he continued to perform surgeries despite being banned from two operating theatres. The doctors that he works with are closing ranks.

Attorney Sinen Mnguni, who represents 19 families of children who either died or were maimed after Beale operated on them, said the children’s parents were shocked about the award.

“It is in bad taste that someone who is being investigated for these alleged crimes is being celebrated.”

The investigation into Beal is ongoing. Forensic pathologists still needed to review the postmortem results and determine whether or not the deaths were due to error on his part.

When asked to comment on the families’ unhappiness about him receiving the award, Beale told TimeLIVE writer, Graeme Hosken:  “You’re a gutter journalist …”

“I don’t talk to you, I’ll talk to you in court one day when it becomes a nightmare for you,” adding he was not responsible for a “single one of the mortalities”.

There’s that temper and inability to take criticism that he’s apparently so famous for.

[source:timeslive]