Dr Hennie Roos once performed life-changing surgery on children maimed in the Middle East. Now he has been found guilty of unprofessional conduct.
Roos, a prominent Johannesburg plastic and reconstruction surgeon, on Thursday pleaded guilty to four charges of unprofessional conduct at a hearing of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
The charges include allowing a nursing sister in his practice to perform a full-face laser resurfacing operation on Elaine Louw; prescribing products from which he would benefit financially; advertising his practice in contravention of ethical regulations; and attempting to enter into a consultancy agreement with one of his patients.
In this agreement, patient Jennifer Reichlin would "market and promote my (Roos's) services as a plastic surgeon" for which she was to be paid a fee. However, the agreement came to nought after Roos got legal advice on the ethics of such an agreement.
Added to this, Roos pleaded guilty to breaching patient/doctor confidentiality by condoning marketing company Verimark using a photograph of one of his patients, Elizabeth Laing, to promote Senzani products without her consent.
He also pleaded guilty to condoning the public impression that Senzani products had successfully treated Laing's condition when in fact the products used in her treatment, although they contained the same formula as the Senzani products, did not have the same trade name.
Pronouncing Roos guilty, HPCSA committee chairperson Piet Barnard said the committee was seriously concerned by the spirit of commercialism associated with the charges.
"It is shocking," he said.
This was despite the argument by Roos's legal representative, advocate Stephen Farrel, that Roos had not been motivated by financial gain.
"He believed it to be in the best interest of the patient," Farrel said.
He added that Roos believed that his formula was the only formula available to him that would best benefit his patient.
"It turned out to be true. The treatment was extremely successful," he said.
And this isn't the first time that Roos has found himself in trouble with the medical professionals' governing body.
He has faced no fewer than 26 complaints since 1994.
These relate to his charging excessive fees, unethical advertising, working with an unregistered person, and his competence.
Sixteen of the complaints were finalised at a preliminary-inquiry stage, with the finding that there was insufficient prima facie evidence to press charges successfully.
Of the 10 other complaints, one has been cancelled, four are at a formal-inquiry level and five are at the preliminary-inquiry stage.
Roos has also faced several civil suits brought by a number of his patients. In fact, at Thursday's proceedings, he was served with a summons by the sheriff of the court.
It is unclear who has brought the case.
Reichlin, who was present at the proceedings, sued Roos for leaving her scarred after performing a face and forehead lift.
"We reached a settlement amounting to R692 000," she said.
But Roos is known not only for complaints against him.
In 2003 he was approached by a South African representative in the Palestinian territories, Rafique Gangat, to perform much-needed surgery on children born with defects, burn victims, and people injured in the ongoing conflict.
Roos was expected to be sentenced on Friday.
Advocate Jaco Goosen, acting for the HPCSA, has indicated that he will be calling two witnesses to testify in aggravation of sentence.