The South African Law Reform Commission has proposed two new bills to radically change how the state handles massive medical negligence claims. The commission warns that an explosion of lawsuits over the last two decades is heavily draining public funds and crippling healthcare service delivery. The draft laws aim to set up an independent redress commission and enforce pre-litigation rules before patients can take the state to court. If passed, the health and justice departments will gain strict legal frameworks to establish provincial databases and manage payout guidelines. For more, we spoke to Ronel Van Zyl, a Senior State Law Advisor at the South African Law Reform Commission.