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Medico-Legal
Portugal’s president vetoes physician-aided death Bill for the second time
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has, for the second time, vetoed a Bill to allow physician-assisted death in Portugal. The Bill aims to to...
Italian man charged over wearing fake arm to avoid COVID vaccine
An Italian man determined to obtain a health pass, by any means, now faces fraud charges after arriving for his COVID-19 vaccine wearing a...
Austrian surgeon fined for amputating wrong leg
An Austrian court has fined a surgeon for amputating the wrong leg of an elderly patient. According to a report in The Guardian, the...
SAMA calls for specialised courts to handle medico-legal cases
The SA Medical Association has called for the establishment of specialised medical courts to deal with medico-legal cases. The Star reports that in addition...
Pupils’ COVID jabs vital: Section27 in bid to dismiss ACDP application
Barring 12- to 17-year-olds from getting COVID-19 vaccines will lead to further academic interruptions and curtail efforts to limit the virus’s spread, according to...
Basic Education Department releases guidelines for handling pregnant pupils
An approved Department of Basic Education (DBE) policy provides detailed guidelines on the procedure for handling a pupil's pregnancy, which includes upholding a child's...
Gqeberha doctor fined R120,000 over fake medical certificates for truck drivers
A Gqeberha-based medical doctor has been fined R120,000 and handed a suspended striking from the roll, for fraudulently issuing medical certificates required by drivers...
Health DG cleared in Digital Vibes contract probe and returns to work
National Health Department DG Sandile Buthelezi has been cleared of all charges relating to the R150m Digital Vibes contract. Nearly three months after being...
Public hearings highlight issue of ‘safe relinquishment’ of unwanted babies
As the Portfolio Committee on Social Development continues with the nationwide public consultations on legalising the “safe relinquishment” of unwanted babies, some local NGOs...
Botswana’s landmark gay rights ruling upheld by Court of Appeal
Botswana’s government lost a legal attempt on Monday (29 November) to overturn a landmark ruling that decriminalised homosexuality. eNCA reports that the country's High...
Jailed gynae whose conviction was reversed by ConCourt ends silence
Dr Danie van der Walt, the first South African doctor jailed for the death of a patient and who served eight months of a...
Medical parole makes moot ‘racist’ DA’s application on Zuma
Papers arguing that the application seeking to have Jacob Zuma’s medical parole withdrawn and have him returned to jail to serve out his time...
Pretoria doctor suspended for 3-years over patients’ investments
A Pretoria doctor who persuaded patients and former patients to invest in a company that he knew was failing at the time, and which...
Esidimeni Inquest roundup: Former Health MEC ‘inspired fear’
People working with former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu were afraid of disagreeing with her, testified Levy Mosenogi, the manager of the Life Esidimeni...
SIU hands Defence Force PPE corruption cases to NPA
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has finalised its investigation into PPE corruption and fraud in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). Zakheni Strategic...
SA Law Reform Commission outlines sweeping medical negligence changes
The Law Reform Commission (SALRC) has proposed sweeping legal changes to curb the soaring medical negligence claims against the State, writes MedicalBrief. A “uniquely...
Court furore over Eastern Cape attempt to stop medical negligence writs
A “shameful and bad faith” last-minute High Court bid by the Eastern Cape government to have all writs against the Health Department’s bank account...
MPs disapproving of R351m spent in a year to investigate DoH corruption
At least R351m of taxpayers’ money was spent in a single year to investigate corruption within the national Department of Health, to the disapproval...
Court rules Biden vaccine mandate ‘fatally flawed’ and ‘staggeringly over-broad’
US President Joe Bidenʼs vaccine and testing requirements for private businesses are “fatally flawed” and “staggeringly over-broad”, ruled a federal appeals court, probably “exceeding...
Inquest roundup: Life Esidimeni leader wanted to stop patient transfers
The man tasked with leading the Life Esidimeni project, in terms of which a number of mental health patients had to be moved to...
SIU probe into Medical Schemes regulator ‘almost complete’
The SIU’s probe into the medical schemes regulator is almost complete, Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) registrar Sipho Kabane told Parliament last week (Wednesday...
Failed bid to have 47,000 community health workers made permanent employees
An attempt by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) to have more than 47,000 community health workers (CHWs) employed permanently by...
US Supreme Court overturns $465m opioid ruling against J&J
A massive $465m verdict against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for public nuisance through its prescription opioid marketing campaign in the state has been reversed...
ACDP challenge to child vaccinations postponed following request for “special” hearing
The legal challenge by the ACDP and other concerned organisations to halt the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine to children between the ages of...
Doctor’s lobby group joins ACDP’s urgent application to halt child vaccinations
A Durban doctor’s lobby group, the Caring Healthcare Workers Coalition, has joined the African Christian Democratic Party and two other organisations to oppose the Department...
North West Health HOD and Finance MEC acquitted of job-fixing charge
Former North West Health HOD Andrew Lekalakala and former Finance, Economy & Enterprise Development MEC Wendy Nelson and have been acquitted on R8m fraud...
SA healthcare leaders call for review of culpable homicide law
Nine leading South African healthcare organisations have united to urge the government to initiate a review into culpable homicide law and its application in...
US federal appeals court stays Biden’s mandatory vaccine policy
A US federal appeals court has temporarily halted the Biden administration’s requirement for businesses with 100 or more workers to be fully vaccinated.
The Fifth...
Sexual violation of corpses scandal triggers regulatory review of UK mortuaries
An electrician who admitted murdering two women in 1987, also sexually attacked scores of corpses in hospital mortuaries in the worst offending of its...
Durban Archdiocese links foetal burials to freedom of religion in ConCourt application
The Constitutional Court has reserved judgment in an application for the right to bury the remains of a foetus. The application was brought by...
Tembisa 10: HPCSA to investigate ‘obs/gynae misrepresentation’ by GP
The Pretoria “obstetrician/gynaecologist” who claimed to have examined the mother of the yet-to-be-seen 'Tembisa 10' decuplets, Gosiame Sithole, is neither a gynaecologist nor an...
Nehawu rejects proposal of mandatory public sector vaccinations
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has slammed the Department of Public Service & Administration over a potential mandatory COVID-19 vaccination...
Zuma was given medical parole ‘because of fears of unrest’
Former president Jacob Zuma was given medical parole by the National Commissioner of Correctional Services, overturning the recommendation of the Medical Parole Advisory Board,...
Physios challenge to clawbacks could ‘ruin’ medical schemes
The SA Society of Physiotherapy’s bid to scrap provisions in the Medical Schemes Act that enable schemes to recover claims paid in error would...
ACDP applies for interdict to halt vaccine roll-out to children aged 12-17
The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and several community organisations have filed papers at the Pretoria High Court to stop the roll-out of the...
US Supreme Court rejects religious challenge to vaccine mandate
In the latest legal battle over vaccinations, reports Reuters, the US Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, rejected the request by nine...
J&J settles lawsuits over anti-psychotic causing excessive breast tissue in men
Johnson & Johnson has settled most of the lawsuits it faced by thousands of men who claimed its anti-psychotic drug Risperdal caused them to...
Texas law bans transgender girls from female school sports
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed into law a Bill banning transgender girls from participating in female sports at public schools, joining a wave...
Austria submits draft legislation on assisted suicide
Austria's federal government has submitted a draft law to legalise assisted suicide for seriously ill adults, the Federal Chancellery said last weekend. A CNN...
Albinism killings: Life sentences for three body-part harvesters
The three men found guilty of murdering Albino teenager Gabisile Shabane (13), were handed life sentences by the Mpumalanga High Court (Mbombela) in Middelburg,...