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Medico-Legal
Fake sick note doctor to plead not guilty
An East London doctor who charged patients hundreds of rands for fake sick notes and who was nabbed by the Hawks, intends pleading not...
Expert urges active case-finding to start early TB treatment and save lives
Instead of waiting for patients to arrive at clinics, when they are already at risk of dying, authorities should beef up their efforts to...
Psychological report on existing children key to surrogacy plans – judge
Three judges in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), led by Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba, recently had to deal with the issue of whether...
First ever mass NHS nurses strike looms over pay
Thousands of nurses could walk off the job later this month when NHS workers take to the picket line over pay after Britain’s nursing...
EC Health MEC granted bid to appeal R22m damages order
After conceding liability for injuries and damages suffered during a childbirth at Mthatha General Hospital, Eastern Cape Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth has now sought...
Discovery wins court bid to stop ‘rogue’ RAF’ directive
A High Court judge has ruled in favour of Discovery Health by ordering the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to overturn a directive to reject...
Health MEC ‘meddled unlawfully’ in R10m dodgy scooter tender, inquiry hears
The Eastern Cape Health Department’s controversial R10.14m tender to buy motorcycles to be used as mobile clinics was a project of then Health MEC...
Former Limpopo Health HoD’s pension frozen over COVID deals
A preservation order has been granted to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) by the Special Tribunal to freeze the pension benefits of former Limpopo...
KZN hospital and owner charged with multimillion-rand tax fraud
The well-known KwaZulu-Natal Daymed Private Hospital and its owner, Dr Navind Dayanand, have been charged with numerous instances of tax evasion and credit fraud,...
Unregistered ‘doctor’ arrested for contravening Health Act
A routine visit by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) to a medical practice in Mahikeng led to the arrest of Valery Sakidi...
Indonesia revokes firms’ licences after 150 deaths from toxic meds
Indonesia’s national food and drug control agency (BPOM) has revoked licences for syrup-type drug production by two firms for allegedly violating manufacturing rules and...
US lawsuit claims L’Oreal’s hair straighteners caused cancer
Days after a study from the US National Institute of Environmental Health Safety (NIEHS) suggesting that hair-straightening products might significantly increase the risk of...
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...