Frances Ames

Frances Rix Ames was a South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist, best known for leading the medical ethics inquiry into the death of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, who died from medical neglect after being tortured in police custody. When the South African Medical and Dental Council (SAMDC) declined to discipline the chief district surgeon and his assistant who treated Biko, Ames and a group of five academics and physicians raised funds and fought an eight-year legal battle against the medical establishment. Ames risked her personal safety and academic career in her pursuit of justice, taking the dispute to the South African Supreme Court, where she eventually won the case in 1985. ^{Frances Ames, South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist (d. 2002)}

20 April 1920

Born on the same birth date (20 April 1920): Clement Isong • John Paul Stevens

Born on the same birth day (20 April): Alan Beith • Betty Lou Gerson • Bruce Cabot • Eszter Tamási • Georg Michael Telemann • Harold Lloyd • Heinrich Göbel • John Carney (American football) • Johnny Tillotson • Julia Morris • Kai Siegbahn • Louka Katseli • Naftali Temu • Olga Karlatos • Sydney Chapman (economist) • Thein Sein

Born in the same month (April 1920): Arthur Hailey • Emilio Colombo • Eric Yarrow • Gerda Lerner • Gino Valenzano • Jack Stokes (director) • Jack Webb • John Paul Stevens • Roberto Calvi • Stan Freeman • Theodore L. Thomas • Thomas Szasz • William Royer