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Medico-Legal
Million-dollar pay-out after loss of embryos, eggs over fertility clinic malfunction
An appeal of a US landmark jury verdict awarding nearly $15m to five people who lost embryos and eggs in a fertility clinic mishap...
RAF turns to Appeals Court over medical aids directive ruling
The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has now appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal to overturn a judgment declaring its directive that no payments...
Doctor gets green light to sue colleague over amputation
A Standerton doctor who was shot during a robbery and whose colleagues then amputated his leg has got the court's go-ahead to prove the...
NHS to pay to £25 000 to SA nurse for racial slurs
A black South African nurse, working at an immigrant removal centre at Heathrow, was awarded £25 000 after suing the National Health Service (NHS)...
Crucial Tembisa Hospital corruption evidence stolen
A cellphone belonging to suspended Gauteng Health Department HoD Lerato Madyo, which was vital evidence in the R850m fraud and corruption probe into Tembisa...
Paediatrician testifies in five-year-old's abuse and murder case
The paediatrician giving evidence in the abuse and murder trial of a five-year-old girl told the Western Cape High Court last week that he had...
Discovery battles for affordable cystic fibrosis drug
While an international campaign by patient advocates and health activists gathers momentum, Discovery Health says it has been negotiating with US pharmaceutical manufacturer Vertex...
Limpopo ex-Health boss fails in pension access bid
Former Limpopo Health HoD Thokozani Mhlongo has failed in her bid to unfreeze her pension, with a Special Tribunal dismissing her application to reconsider...
Woman arrested for running bogus nursing colleges
A woman accused of running bogus nursing colleges and registering unsuspecting students under the pretext that they would acquire diplomas, was arrested last weekend...
Eastern Cape Health boosts legal teams to fight bogus medical claims
The Eastern Cape provincial Health Department is tackling bogus medical negligence team head on, beefing up its artillery of legal defences with a mass...
Nurse on misconduct charges for shaming patient who miscarried
An Eastern Cape nurse has been suspended and faces misconduct charges after allegations that she not only verbally abused a young patient (23) after...
US insulin infusion doctor barred from solo practice
A US doctor, found guilty of gross negligence, incompetence and unprofessional conduct, has been placed on seven years’ probation and barred from operating a...
Tiger Brands listeriosis class action still awaiting trial date
Litigation in the listeriosis class action suit will proceed later this year while parties continue to build their case against Tiger Brands, with nearly 70...
Parents of abused child jailed after doctors sought private prosecution
Doctors who had twice examined a badly beaten up six-month-old girl in Pretoria and concluded that she was a victim of repeated abuse, sought...
Doctor (84) charged with fraud over false death certification
The Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation unit has charged a Durban doctor (84) with fraud for certifying the “death” of someone who was still...
More SA women join vaginal mesh legal suit as J&J suffers US defeat
As Johnson & Johnson this week lost a bid in the US Supreme Court to overturn a $302m judgment in a case brought by...
New charges for thrice-suspended Cape doctor
Alleged serial offending Cape Town gynaecologist/obstetrician Ganes Anil Ramdhin, who continues to practise medicine because of administrative bungles, has been slapped with fresh charges.
In...
Court battle looms over lifesaving cystic fibrosis drug
A new class of drugs that could extend the lives of hundreds of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients in South Africa is out of reach...
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...