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Medico-Legal
Baragwanath maternity unit faces R1bn negligence claims
The critically understaffed maternity unit at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital faces medical negligence claims totalling R1bn – 50 of them just in the...
Law firms kickstart class action over J&J pelvic mesh devices
Law firms RH Lawyers and attorney Richard Spoor have initiated a class action lawsuit in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) against Johnson & Johnson,...
Members face penalties, waiting periods following Health Squared collapse
Health Squared Medical Scheme beneficiaries are at the mercy of other medical schemes after theirs went into curatorship and also applied for voluntary liquidation.
While...
UK inquiry finds hospitals' treatment of mothers and babies 'deplorable and harrowing'
Dozens of babies died or were left brain damaged by poor care at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, a damning independent inquiry...
US farmers sue weedkiller firm over alleged Parkinson’s link
A pesticide popular with US farmers has been prominently linked to Parkinson’s Disease, which scientists see as the fastest growing neurological disorder in the...
Eastern Cape's plan to turn tidal wave of negligence claims
The Eastern Cape Health Department claims to be instituting “extraordinary interventions” to limit the R30bn contingent liability it’s facing from negligence claims, and taking...
Medical board chairperson suspended over unknown 'serious' allegations
A suspension letter has been issued to the chairperson of the Medical and Dental Professions Board (MDPB), Professor Solomon Rataemane, after unknown but apparently...
SAMA appoints mediator to address internal tussles
A mediator has been appointed in efforts to resolve the South African Medical Association’s (SAMA) battle for “legitimate” governance, and to work out how...
Court orders SAPO to pay R4.5m in medical aid contribution arrears
The SA Post Office (SAPO) has been ordered by the Labour Court to pay R4.5m in employees’ outstanding medical aid contributions to medical aid...
Life Esidimeni transfers not practical, but officials forced to comply, inquest hears
On her second day on the stand at the Life Esidimeni inquest, being heard virtually in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) Dr Makgabo Manamela,...
Mkhize claims his prominent COVID role sparked Digital Vibes probe
ANC presidential hopeful Zweli Mkhize believes the outcome of the Digital Vibes investigation was predetermined by the party’s president Cyril Ramaphosa’s inner circle to...
Lawmakers call for NHS to offer free menopause checks
All British women aged 45 must be invited for an NHS health check so doctors can talk to them about the menopause, MPs have...
Theranos fraud convict wants new trial before November sentencing
When American Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the failed blood-testing start-up Theranos, was convicted of fraud in January, the verdict represented the end of...
Provinces ignore system to slash medical negligence claims
Only one province – the Free State – is using a case management system designed to help provincial Health Departments defend themselves against potentially...
Doctors face penalties for ‘COVID lies’ under new California Bill
In a landmark move, California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday signed controversial legislation allowing the penalising of physicians who spread lies about COVID in...
Medical bodies outraged by KZN surgeon’s murder charge
The court appearance last week in Richards Bay of a surgeon charged with murder after a patient’s death has sparked an outcry in SA’s...
SANDF wins mutiny case against Cuba medical students
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has ruled that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was correct to dismiss 35 medical students who...
Judge dismisses couple’s application to freeze embryos
A couple’s court application for permission to proceed with artificial fertilisation and then freeze the embryos until they had identified a suitable surrogate mother...
Dad wins R240 000 damages for unlawful lockdown arrest
An Eastern Cape trader has won damages of R240 000 after being accused of breaking lockdown rules when he was driving his sick son...
Imposter radiologist's case postponed
A Gqeberha woman who falsified her radiology qualification, working at Livingstone Hospital for six months before it was uncovered, appeared briefly in the Specialised...
UK nurse murdered seven babies, tried to kill others, court hears
The trial of a British nurse accused of murdering seven babies, attempting to murder 10 others at Countess of Chester Hospital – and who...
KZN surgeon’s murder charge triggers new alarm among doctors
As predicted by medical and legal experts, South African prosecutors appear to be increasingly inclined to bring murder charges against doctors whose patients die...
CCMA rules against Muslim pharmacist in hospital dress code challenge
The CCMA has ruled against a Durban hospital pharmacist who applied to have a “bare elbows” policy declared discriminatory because it barred her from...
Court stops removal of patients from Mpumalanga care home
The Mpumalanga High Court (Mbombela) has barred the Social Development Department from moving 36 disabled patients from a care facility after an application by AfriForum,...
Bogus psychologist gets life for killing mother
An Eastern Cape man who ran an industrial psychology practice despite not being qualified has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his 60-year-old...
Free State nurses arrested for running illegal clinic
Three nurses arrested after being found in possession of stolen medicines and equipment, while also operating an illegal clinic in Harrismith, had embarrassed the...
US doctor arrested for allegedly tampering with IV bags, causing death
A Dallas anaesthesiologist, with a history of disciplinary actions against him, has been arrested on charges of injecting nerve-blocking agents and other drugs into...
US osteopath behind bars for illegal Xanax prescriptions
An osteopathic physician from Illinois was sentenced to 12 months in prison last week for illegally prescribing the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam (Xanax) to people...
Wiese rescues SA's anxious high-risk doctors after insurance dilemma
Consumer retail billionaire Christo Wiese has stepped in to rescue EthiQal, a popular local medical indemnity provider, after its parent company, Constantia Insurance, was...
NHI plans still on track despite court ruling, says Minister
Despite a recent High Court ruling declaring some sections of the National Health Act unconstitutional, Health Minister Joe Phaahla says this won’t impede plans...
Health managers point fingers at politicians in Life Esidimeni inquest
Former Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi wanted to shut down the NGOs where mental health patients were dying, the inquest into the deaths of...
Health Squared under provisional curatorship
Health Squared, the embattled medical scheme that last month sought voluntary liquidation, has been placed under provisional curatorship from 8 September, despite its argument...
Jail for millionaire French dentist who mutilated hundreds of patients
A multimillionaire French dentist was jailed last week for “wiping the smiles off the faces” of hundreds of patients by maiming them with expensive,...
Court orders Eastern Cape Health MEC to reinstate whistle-blower
A whistle-blower who raised the alarm about nepotism will be reinstated at a district human resources office in the Eastern Cape after a High...
Judge rules US PrEP healthcare coverage violates 'religious freedom’
A US judge has ruled that the country’s employer healthcare plans covering the main HIV prevention drugs violates the right to religious freedom, after...
US judge rules against FDA in stem cell treatment dispute
A US judge has declined to block a California stem cell clinic from continuing to perform what the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has called...
KZN surgeon charged after patient's death, gets bail
A Richards Bay surgeon, charged with murder after the death of a patient, has been granted bail of R10 000.
As reported in MedicalBrief, the...
HPCSA disciplinaries from mid-July until August 2022
Numerous counts of medical aid fraud, an unnecessary procedure carried out on a patient, failure to attend to an ectopic pregnancy and using social...
Health Squared gets leave to apply for voluntary liquidation
After its initial application for voluntary liquidation was opposed by the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) registrar, who wanted to place the scheme under...
Life Esidimeni: arrest warrant for former mental health boss after non-appearance
Former head of mental health in Gauteng Makgabo Manamela’s absence from the Life Esidimeni inquest this week has tried the court’s patience, and after...