We believe that all people deserve the right to health care that is safe and reliable, with standards that are not determined by your wealth or a doctor’s personal belief’s. Everyone should be treated with respect and receive the best possible treatment.

Mr. Nxumalo’s case, what should have been a standard appendectomy, is a reflection on the quality and standard of health care in some government hospitals in South Africa. Standards need to be improved and cases of negligence should be dealt with to reduce such incidents. All medical practitioner's morals and ethics should be aligned with the Health Professional Council of South Africa's (HPCSA) moral and ethics code. 

Morals are beliefs and principles regarding right and wrong. In healthcare it is important for patients to go to their check ups and ask about confusing medical terminology. The medial professionals in the article should have explained the procedure to the patient and performed them correctly in order to improve the patient's condition, not worsen it. The outcomes of negligence towards a patient can lead to permanent loss of their jobs and professional permits. 

Values have a big influence on an individual’s behavior and attitude. The healthcare offered to Mr. Nxumalo shows us that there are no lasting beliefs shared between the staff. They made decisions to send him home knowing that he could die. If the staff had stuck to their values this would not have happened.

The medical practitioners in the article go against the framework that has been set by the principles of medical ethics. These ethics focus on: autonomy, which is the recognition of individuals rights; beneficence or well being of a patient; non-maleficence: doing no harm to others and justice: the obligation to have a fair judgment of a situation. The ethics violated in the article were non-maleficence and beneficence. It is a doctors’ duty to promote the wellbeing of their patients and to do no harm. The doctor in this article only worsened the condition of the patient, as their negligence posed a threat to the patient’s life. This also brings into question that perhaps the doctor operating on him was not qualified to do so as they left him with a gaping wound and sent him home regardless. The patient was then bedridden for weeks and unable to make a living. The principle of justice was also violated due to unequal quality of healthcare in different hospitals and the fact that he had to find another institution after his file was lost.

We feel that all healthcare institutions in South Africa should provide safe and reliable health care. Mr. Nxumalo should have also had a doctor that was capable of performing the surgery and they should have explained all the precautions to him. The nurses should have also made sure that the wound was not infected and that he was not in any pain. We feel that it is not ethically correct to butcher a patient nor is it morally correct to send them home with an infected, open wound.

Morals, ethics and values play a very important role in basic healthcare in South Africa. In order for the healthcare to work efficiently, professionals need to practice ethics and values that coincide with the HPCSA. Only then can patients receive healthcare that is of a higher standard and improves their condition and is not determined by the fact that it is paid for by the state.