Tuesday, 19 March, 2024

FOCUS: MEDICO-LEGAL

Top court to decide on medical aid information disclosures

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In a case that will have groundbreaking implications for medical schemes and its members, the Constitutional Court will today deliberate on the extent of medical information disclosure required for members, in a case involving Profmed and the late Adelia Steyn, notes MedicalBrief. The court will decide on whether non-disclosure of a condition like gastritis – which Steyn deemed immaterial – can justify coverage termination. BusinessLIVE reports that after claims amounting to about R400 000, Steyn’s membership was revoked in 2016 by...

NEWS UPDATE

Mediclinic cleared of billing manipulation

An independent investigation has cleared Mediclinic of intentionally manipulating billing, after allegations – by someone claiming to be a former Mediclinic employee – were emailed to more than 50 principal officers of SA’s biggest medical schemes. Although the probe uncovered some mistakes and unintended errors, it said these were “random...

Flu outbreak closes Free State schools 


Two schools in the Free State have been shut down for a week after more than 100 pupils contracted influenza B and human rhinovirus. The Free State Education Department said Philippolis and Bergmanshoogte Primary Schools in the Xhariep District were closed after the outbreaks, reports News24, with some children being...

Global study to determine why black people have worse cancers

A global five-year, multimillion-pound investigation has been launched into why black people are more likely to develop more aggressive forms of prostate, breast and pancreatic cancers than their white counterparts. These illnesses disproportionately affect people within ethnic minority groups, with higher mortality rates and earlier onset of the disease, reports The Independent. Researchers from...

Benzene in acne treatments linked to cancer

Acne treatments have joined the list of common consumer products – like hand sanitisers, sunscreens and dry shampoos – that contain high levels of benzene, previously linked to cancer, with some tested products containing nine times the permitted amount of the chemical. In a petition filed with the US Food...

Another delay for Alzheimer’s drug as FDA sets up review panel

The FDA has delayed its decision on Eli Lilly’s highly anticipated Alzheimer’s drug donanemab and plans to convene an advisory committee to review it in a surprise delay for a treatment that many experts had expected would be approved with relative ease. The agency has additional questions about donanemab’s safety,...

UK review calls for action on ‘biased’ medical devices

British experts have joined what’s growing into a global call for action on medical devices that are prone to unfair biases, including blood oxygen monitors and certain artificial intelligence (AI) enabled tools, to prevent harm to ethnic minorities and women. A recent report detailed the findings of an Independent Review...

Large study shows ALS drug failures

The maker of a much-debated drug for Lou Gehrig’s disease said last week that its therapy had failed to help patients in a large follow-up study, but stopped short of committing to follow through on a prior pledge to pull the drug from the US market. The Food and Drug...

Global quest to pinpoint cause of early-onset cancers

Something in the environment or our lifestyles seems to be causing a rise in early-onset cancers, which is concerning scientists worldwide. Now, a study has been given the go-ahead to find the culprit. One of the most concerning trends is the rising incidence of several types of tumour in people under...

World anti-doping body suspends Africa’s only testing lab

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) formally suspended the accreditation of the SA Doping Control Laboratory in Bloemfontein – the only such facility in Africa – citing “multiple non-conformities with the International Standard for Laboratories”. The suspension on 1 March was on the recommendation of the Laboratory Expert Advisory Group (Lab...

Global child mortality drops, but preventable deaths still high

Although the number of children globally who died before their fifth birthday dropped to a record low of 4.9m in 2022, that still represents one death every six seconds, according to a newly released United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) report. While the mortality rate for under-fives...

Pietermaritzburg pharmacist murdered

A well-known Pietermaritzburg pharmacist was found murdered next to his bullet-riddled car last Thursday night, police said. The 72-year-old from DuziMed Medicine Depot had multiple bullet wounds from high-calibre weapons, and police spokesperson Lt-Colonel Nqobile Gwala told IOL that Plessislaer police were investigating a case of murder. ER24 spokesperson Ineke van...

Alabama passes IVF immunity Bill

An Alabama, US, governor signed a Bill last week that will protect providers and patients – doing in vitro fertilisation – from legal liability if any embryos they create are damaged or destroyed, just weeks after a state Supreme Court ruling that threatened the treatment’s use. Three weeks ago the...

Rise in psittacosis cases in Europe

The World Health Organisation has issued an outbreak notice after reports from five European countries of an unexpected rise in infections involving psittacosis, a respiratory disease from a bacteria known to affect birds that began in late 2023 and resulted in five deaths. The reports were from Austria, Denmark, Germany,...

MEDICO-LEGAL

Gynae in botched op legal suit now faces fraud charges

A gynaecologist appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court last week facing fraud charges after a patient, Hlengiwe Mbambo, who claimed he botched her total hysterectomy, also accused him of failing to disclose he was using an unregistered assistant at the time. Dr Kofi Kwaw-Asante was released on R2 000 bail...

Five nurses suspended amid negligence probe

Steve Biko Academic Hospital has placed five nurses on suspension after allegations of gross negligence relating to a video that involved a patient in the emergency unit late last month. In the video, from 25 February, the man, held by two people, is seen collapsed on the floor while others...

UK health workers await Covid compensation hearing

Dozens of British healthcare workers with long Covid are still waiting for a High Court compensation hearing against the NHS, among others, whom they are suing for loss of income due to life-changing disabilities they say result directly from their employers’ failure to protect them from Covid-19. The representatives of the group of...

Triple murderer Lauren Dickason's sentencing delayed

South African doctor and convicted triple-murderer Lauren Dickason, who has been tightly guarded in a psychiatric hospital since being found guilty in August last year of murdering her children in New Zealand, has had her sentencing date postponed yet again. Although it was initially set down for 19 December, before...

SOME RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS IN THE PAST WEEK

CARDIOLOGY

Value of lithotripsy for mitral valve stenosis

Until recently, there was sparse evidence of the value of a novel technology called intravascular lithotripsy-facilitated percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty (IVL-PBMV) for treating patients with severe calcific mitral stenosis (MS) with no other surgical or transcatheter treatment options. There had been only isolated case reports from various centres. The interventional cardiology and structural heart team...

CARDIOVASCULAR

Weight loss drug approved for heart disease prevention

Wegovy is the first weight loss drug to be approved for major heart disease prevention, after the US Food & Drug Administration gave the green light last week for the semaglutide to be used to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke in adults with cardiovascular...

Experts challenge ‘one size fits all’ aspirin guidelines

Heart disease researchers have identified a group of patients in whom, they suggest, international guidelines on aspirin use for heart health may not apply. In a research letter published in Circulation, the findings of a review of data from three clinical trials challenge current best practice for use of the...

CORONAVIRUS

Man shows no severe effects after 217 Covid jabs

A German man claiming to have received 217 Covid-19 vaccines in just 29 months isn’t reacting the way some scientists thought he would. The 62-year-old male from Magdeburg made headlines a few years ago for his risky decision to thwart national medical advice and get numerous jabs – all allegedly...

DIETETICS

Drawbacks to benefits of short fasting, study finds

Researchers have suggested that several possible health benefits of fasting – done properly and under medical supervision – might, in fact, not occur in shorter or more intermittent fasts. The collaborative study by teams in Europe and the UK found it took more than three days for all major organs...

DERMATOLOGY

Paediatric atopic dermatitis linked to learning, memory issues

A large cross-sectional study in the US has suggested that paediatric atopic dermatitis could be associated with a greater risk of learning and memory difficulties, particularly in children who might have comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders, according to the researchers. In a weighted sample of more than 69m children, they found that...

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Microplastics in arteries increase risk of heart attack/stroke

People with artery plaques containing microplastics were about four times as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as those with plastic-free plaques, suggesting microplastics may contribute to heart disease, say experts. Microplastics form when sunlight, water and other agents erode plastics into fragments less than 5mm long. At this...

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Even moderate exercise adds years to life – Discovery study

In reassuring news for those whose schedules don’t allow them to exercise vigorously on a daily basis, recent research has found that walking 5 000 steps weekly can add years to your life and slash your healthcare costs. The study from Discovery and the London School of Economics said a previously...

HIV/AIDS

Progress on HIV vaccine trial foiled by side effects on skin

One of the most promising attempts to reinvigorate the stalled quest for an HIV vaccine has hit a snag that might seem minor but has major consequences: delaying the larger trials needed to show whether the concept works. In small safety and immune tests of the innovative vaccine strategy, which...

ONCOLOGY

Chemo regimen changes may help older patients – US analysis

Treatment modifications, like dose reductions, schedule changes, or less toxic regimens, can improve how older patients with advanced cancer and ageing-related conditions tolerate chemotherapy regimens, suggest researchers. Older patients, they said, are under-represented in clinical trials, and reported risks associated with standard-of-care regimens typically reflect outcomes in younger, healthier patients. This...