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Medico-Legal
Child’s health declines as Tiger Brands listeriosis case drags on
The parents of a baby who contracted listeriosis in her mother’s womb in 2017 are still awaiting finalisation of the class action case lodged...
Employee in court for alleged ‘kickback’ from Digital Vibes tender
A Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) employee is on trial for corruption after allegations she received a R160 000 bribe that came directly from...
MEC liable for paramedics' negligence in handling boy's rugby injury
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed an appeal by North West Education MEC Viola Motsumi against a High Court judgment finding her...
Unregistered doctors arrested in the Cape
Two doctors, neither of whom is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), have been arrested in the Western Cape and appeared...
Eastern Cape ruling could change how medico-legal claims are settled
A precedent set by the recent Eastern Cape High Court (Bhisho) ruling freeing the Eastern Cape Health Department from paying out lump sums to...
Post Office’s MediPos under curatorship
After years of financial difficulties, MediPos, the medical aid provider for SA Post Office (Sapo) employees, is to be placed under curatorship, after an...
Top brass at eThekwini charged over E.coli levels, sewage spills
Criminal charges have been laid by the Department of Economic Development, Tourism & Environmental Affairs (Edtea) against eThekwini Metro officials, with court papers outlining...
Doctor charged in Sassa disability grant fraud case
A medical doctor in Limpopo was among a group of 15 people – which also included a former South African Social Security Agency (Sassa)...
US AGs weigh in on court battle over access to abortion medicines
A US lawsuit seeking a court order blocking nationwide access to a drug used in medication abortion created a furore last week, with scores...
Calls for specialised medical courts as top surgeon hit with more charges
Health professionals groups have called for specialised medical courts or alternative processes to deal with criminal charges against medical professionals, saying such allegations should...
SCA rules against mining groups’ in silicosis suit
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed a bid by two mining companies to challenge a court certification of a class action that...
1 500 more patients of jailed UK breast surgeon recalled
Spire Healthcare, a British company that runs private hospitals in the UK, is now recalling another 1 500 patients of former breast surgeon Ian Paterson, who...
US court to hear 60 consolidated lawsuits over L'Oreal hair straightener claims
Nearly 60 lawsuits claiming that hair relaxer products sold by L'Oreal USA and other companies cause cancer and other health problems will be consolidated...
Mexican doctor charged with spreading deadly meningitis
Mexican police have arrested an anaesthesiologist and two others linked to a recent meningitis outbreak, which has killed at least 35 women and hospitalised...
More charges likely for murder-accused paediatrician
The Johannesburg paediatric surgeon facing three murder charges after his young patients died following surgery could face more charges.
News24 reports that Professor Peter Beale,...
Medical experts in legal bid to halt vaccines, probe Covid jab
Three non-profit groups, and various medical experts, have approached the courts in efforts to get the government to immediately stop its Covid-19 vaccination campaign,...
Fraud and abuse cost medical schemes R28bn a year
Medical aid fraud and abuse is costing the sector up to R28bn every year, with some companies saying up to 15% of claims include...
Doctor charged for calling peers murderers for administering Covid vaccine
The SA Medical Association (Sama) has laid charges with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) against Dr Tros Bekker for calling his...
Mediclinic staffer loses appeal bid over sick leave ruling
A former Potchefstroom Mediclinic employee, who has been unsuccessfully fighting for 10 years against his dismissal, has struck out again, with the Labour Court...
NPA appeal stalls start of doctor’s R420m theft trial
Appeals to Shamila Batohi, head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), have led to the stalling of the R420m fraud/corruption trial of medical doctor...
French court dismisses inquiry against ex-Health Minister over Covid handling
France’s top appeals court has thrown out a judicial investigation into alleged negligence by former Health Minister Agnes Buzyn in her handling of the...
HPCSA disciplinaries from August to November 2022
Several cases of medical aid fraud, inappropriate sexual examination, misrepresentation of qualifications, and unregistered ambulance services…. MedicalBrief reports on the latest disciplinaries from the...
Triumph for medical schemes as RAF denied leave to appeal payment ruling
In a development that has industry-wide implications, the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has denied the Road Accident Fund (RAF) leave to appeal against its ruling...
Fraud-accused PMB hospital owner served with restraint order
Pietermaritzburg doctor and hospital owner Dr Navind Dayanand, accused of swindling the South African Revenue Service (SARS) out of millions of rands, insists he...
Trust resumes payout process for miners with TB or silicosis
The process of paying compensation to former mineworkers who contracted TB or silicosis between March 1965 and December 2019 got into full swing this...
Welsh nurses' Covid deaths linked to 'industrial disease' in landmark ruling
In a landmark inquest ruling on the deaths of two nurses, a coroner cited for the first time the link between Covid-19 and industrial...
Judge approves multi-million dollar class action settlement against vaping giant
A multi-million-dollar settlement by Juul Labs has been given preliminary court approval to resolve consumer claims that it had deceptively marketed e-cigarettes – and...
US federal probe into baby formula company
The US Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation last week into an Abbott Laboratories plant in Michigan over unsanitary workplace conditions in its...
Diet drug ruling appeal set for June in France
An appeal in the case related to the anti-diabetic drug benfluorex, sold under the brand name Mediator in France, will hear some 692 trial...
California AG sues big pharma over insulin prices
Six major companies that dominate the US insulin market are being sued by Californian Attorney-General Rob Bonta, who believes they are violating the law...
Doctor charged with defrauding FNB, Sasol of R420m
A doctor accused of defrauding First National Bank and Sasol of R420m through a cross-border petroleum syndicate is seeking bail in a separate R7m fraud case,...
Texas medical schools sued over race-based admissions
A Texas man has filed a lawsuit against six US state-run medical schools, accusing them of violating anti-discrimination laws by using affirmative action to give...
NPOs in court bid to halt SA Covid vaccination campaign
Three non-profit organisations have brought an application in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) to stop the country’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign until a full investigation by...
KZN doctor negligent, liable for brain damage of man with overdose history
A KwaZulu-Natal doctor has been found liable for the brain injury of a patient admitted to the emergency unit of Life Westville Hospital eight...
Tribunal upholds ‘grossly negligent’ ruling against Tembisa Hospital CEO and staff
After the death of a critically ill Tembisa Hospital patient, who was not fed for two days before he died, an independent ad hoc...
CMS faces court action after refusal to pay child’s rare disease treatment
An urgent application has been filed against the Council of Medical Schemes (CMS) by the mother of a three-year-old boy to appeal a refusal...
SANBS CEO guilty of negligence over MBA qualification
SA National Blood Service (SANBS) CEO Ravi Reddy has been found guilty of negligence by allowing the body’s digitalised annual report to display his...
Nurse who jabbed 8 000 patients with saline, not Pfizer, loses licence
A Red Cross nurse in Germany, who injected up to 8 600 elderly people with a saline solution instead of a Covid-19 vaccine, has...
Second prison sentence for crooked US doctor
A former US surgeon, who pretended to be a licensed physician after being released from prison in March 2017, has been sentenced again, with...
Tembisa tender kingpins to face prosecution
The much plundered Tembisa Hospital was the focus of activity this week, as a Hawks raid saw detectives seizing computers and documents, their haul...