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Medico-Legal
Bail reduced for US doctor accused by 180 patients of sexual abuse
A former family physician in Oregon accused of widespread sexual abuse by his patients has had his bail reduced by 80% in a pre-trial...
Doctors, experts owed millions by Road Accident Fund
Millions are owed to doctors and other healthcare specialists, with bills stretching to a decade ago in some cases and others forced to retrench...
Patient loses second legal bid in faulty drip case
A judge has dismissed the second legal bid by a former Potchefstroom Hospital patient to claim damages from the North West Province Health MEC after...
More delays for scarred woman's suit against Durban hospital, surgeon
Netcare Hospital Group and a surgeon have both denied liability in the case of a Durban woman who claims severe burns on her back...
Doctor to cough up for dismissing staffer (72) on WhatsApp
A judge has ordered a KwaZulu-Natal doctor to compensate her former employee R120 000 for an age-related dismissal conducted via a WhatsApp message, reports...
HPCSA opposes sexual misconduct doctor’s ban appeal
The High Court has reserved judgment after an endocrinologist, who was permanently struck from the medical roll in July after being found guilty for...
Limpopo mother wins damages after surgery on son’s wrong leg
A Limpopo mother has successfully sued the provincial Health MEC for damages after an orthopaedic surgeon operated on her eight-year-old son – but on...
Gauteng cuts medico-legal claims by more than half
The Gauteng Department of Health has slashed its medico-legal claims from R18bn in 2023 to under R6.9bn this financial year.
Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko announced...
‘Cruel and predatory’ SA GP struck off Australia’s medical register
A South African doctor who had been practising in Australia has been struck off the medical register after being found guilty of having a...
Pfizer’s birth control injection blamed for woman’s brain tumours
An ongoing lawsuit in the United States alleges that Pfizer failed to warn users of potential risks linked to the Depo-Provera birth control injection,...
J&J to fork out $966m in talc cancer case
Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $966m to the family of a woman who died from mesothelioma, with a Los Angeles jury finding...
UK court blames anti-vax mother for daughter’s cancer death
A Cambridge graduate died after her conspiracy theorist mother made her “doubt” her cancer diagnosis, a British coroner has found.
Paloma Shemirani (23) who had non-Hodgkin...
Boy's family sues over hyperbaric chamber death
The parents of a US boy who died a horrific death inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber that exploded in January have filed a lawsuit,...
New FDA Tylenol advice a potential boost for autism lawsuits
Families in the United States who have been appealing the dismissal of their lawsuits alleging that Kenvue’s Tylenol or generic versions caused their children’s...
US ‘pregnancy crimes’ escalate with hundreds of women charged
More than 400 American women have been charged with pregnancy-related crimes in the first two years since the US Supreme Court’s controversial overturning of...
US police crack major nursing scam tied to 7 000 fake diplomas
As part of a years-long investigation into a wide-ranging nursing scam involving – at the latest count – about 7 300 fake diplomas, federal...
Patient lodges appeal against Netcare privacy dispute ruling
Netcare was dealt a blow this week in a privacy case involving a patient, after the courts permitted Nicholaas de Jager to challenge a...
Bara midwives negligent, appeal court finds
The Gauteng High Court has dismissed an appeal by the provincial Department of Health, upholding a medical negligence finding relating to an episiotomy performed...
RAF ordered to reimburse scarred woman for laser treatment
The Western Cape High Court has instructed the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to reimburse a woman more than R200 000 for the laser treatment...
American device firm to pay $8m for faulty knee implants
US medical device manufacturer Exactech has agreed to pay $8m to settle allegations that it hid defects in a popular line of artificial knee...
Court rejects Mkhize's delay bid in Digital Vibes case
Former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize was unsuccessful last week in his bid to delay the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) case pending his High...
Families blame patients’ deaths on doctor’s suspension
The families of patients of a suspended cardiologist are demanding answers from Life Westville Hospital, Durban, for the deaths of their loved ones, whom...
Doctor allegedly ‘poisoned patients to show off resuscitation skills’
A French doctor is on trial on accusations of deliberately poisoning patients undergoing surgery so he could resuscitate them when they went into cardiac...
No sanction for doctor who left patient during op for sex with nurse
A doctor in Britain who left a patient midway through an operation to have sex with a nurse is at “very low risk” of...
Kimberly-Clark to fork out millions for dodgy surgical gowns
US giant Kimberly-Clark has to pay up to $40.4m to resolve a criminal charge relating to its sale of adulterated MicroCool surgical gowns, with...
Indian doctor probed after doing 21 C-sections in 10 hours
A senior gynaecologist in Assam, India, who is under investigation after performing 21 emergency Caesarean deliveries within a single shift, has justified the numbers, saying...
Sex offender doctor challenges HPCSA's life-time ban
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has permanently barred a doctor from practising, calling him a “remorseless” sex offender and labelling him a...
Health DG enters the legal fray over circumcision device
Director-General of Health Dr Sabelo Buthelezi has entered the legal argument over the award of a tender for a device to be used to...
US judge awards $1bn to family for botched birth
A Utah judge this month awarded nearly $1bn in damages to a family after a Salt Lake City hospital – six years ago –...
Kenyan Health Ministry cracks down on rampant fraud
The Kenyan Ministry of Health is determined to clean up the healthcare system, recently handing over 1 188 case files and supporting evidence to...
Psychiatrist suggests 'Ozempic-induced rage' led to stabbings
Ozempic has been blamed for a senseless attack in which an Australian grandmother apparently stabbed her daughter-in-law and young grandson, and who has since...
Kenyan hospitals in organ transplant probe
The Mediheal Group of Hospitals in Kenya and two other local facilities are under investigation for illegal organ harvesting after it was discovered that...
Gauteng Health ordered to treat cancer patients – immediately
The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has instructed the provincial Department of Health to immediately provide cancer treatment to patients on a backlog list –...
HPCSA slammed as sex pest dentist continues to practise
A children’s rights organisation is accusing the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) of dereliction of its duties by allowing a dentist sentenced for...
Treasury defends tender for allegedly “untested” circumcision device
The awarding of a tender by National Treasury for a circumcision device has been challenged in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), with accusations that...
Surgeon sued after botched transgender genital surgeries
A top United States surgeon who specialises in transgender operations is being sued by two patients who claim their procedures at Massachusetts General Hospital...
Life Esidimeni officials to be prosecuted for just two of the deaths
Families of those who died in appalling circumstances in the Life Esidimeni tragedy are furious that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has decided former...
Mother sues after baby swopped at birth
An Eastern Cape mother is suing the provincial Health Department for more than R1m after her baby was swopped at birth at Isilimela Hospital...
Nurses' negligence likely caused baby's brain damage – judge
Negligent nurses at a rural Eastern Cape hospital likely caused a baby's severe brain damage, an Eastern Cape judge has ruled, saying the child...
Hospital fires 15 nurses after girl (12) kills herself
A Washington children’s hospital sacked 15 nurses after a 12-year-old patient killed herself at the facility where she was advised to have 24-hour supervision,...