Within the context of large-scale illiteracy, poverty and marked ignorance of one’s legal rights and legal protection, the majority of African patients are at a loss of possible courses of action open to them when they suffer ill-treatment and, sometimes, irreversible bodily and mental damages (or even, death) in the hands of medical practitioners. Besides, in Africa, the physician is all too idolized and much revered by the society. His shortcomings are easily excused. So, he gets away with his faults without remedy to the injured party. Also, the Law of Torts is not without sufficient gaps for the erring physician to wriggle out of crises, although culpability may be established in other contexts. Of a further interest, is the emerging role of the alternative medical practitioners or natural healers, many of whom attract more patients than the orthodox medical practitioners. We would examine their practice and management of illnesses viz-a-viz the regulations of our laws. It is against the background of the Laws of Contract and Torts as well as other legislations that we examine the state of health (or illness precisely) in Africa where mortality rates of even hospitalized patients keep fluctuating, a condition which is, arguably, traceable to the negligence of medical/alternative medical and paramedical staff.

The domain of medical language and / or the interaction between the doctor and the patient in an African setting compels interesting linguistic inquiries on two fronts. On the one hand, is the sheer esoteric language of the medical practitioners of which, largely, only the initiates may have comprehension. The question is, “how useful is the use of medical language/English in doctor-patient interactions? Should the goal of such interactions not be the understanding of the nature or type of ailment of the patient, and not an unnecessary display of esoteric knowledge? On the other hand is the case of the patient whose language deficiency manifests in his inability to explain precisely and completely, the exact presentation of his ailment. It is sometimes for this and other reasons that many patients now resort to the alternative medical practitioners with whom they freely converse in the indigenous languages. A field survey of both public and private health institutions in Nigeria yields on-the-spot assessments of the problems and challenges of language use by doctors and patients alike.