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Medico-Legal
US doctor threatens defamation suit over 10-year-old’s abortion case
In a case demonstrating the potential fallout of America’s recent overturning of the controversial Roe v Wade ruling, a doctor who performed an abortion...
Controversial weed-killing chemical found in most US urine samples
A US Government study has found that a widely used but controversial herbicide linked to cancer is showing up in a number of people,...
Cosatu challenge to ‘polarising’ workplace vaccination heads for national level
Cosatu plans to challenge mandatory COVID-19 vaccination at a “national, policy level” and wants workers who have been dismissed for non-compliance to be reinstated.
Matthew...
UK patient dies after procedure by octogenarian doctor who lied about age
An 81-year-old Nigerian doctor in the UK, who lied about his age to keep his job, has been jailed for three years after killing...
Biden order eases access to abortion, protects clinics and physicians
US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order on abortion to ease access to medical services for abortion and contraceptives after the Supreme...
Nurse's alleged killer appears in Tembisa court
Lucky Mudau, the policeman accused of killing his ex-lover at the Tembisa Hospital in February before shooting himself, appeared in court for the first...
Former Theranos collaborator Ramesh Balwani convicted of fraud
A jury in California has convicted former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani of collaborating with disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes in a massive fraud...
SA’s foreign-trained doctors score legal victory against HPCSA
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) was on the receiving end of an “unprecedented” landmark court ruling recently after a class action...
NGO takes Health MEC to court for immigrants to access healthcare
After a two-year-old Zimbabwean boy died when a state hospital denied him treatment because his mother had no birth certificate, SECTION27, a public interest...
CCMA victory for employee dismissed over vaccine refusal
An employee who refused to have a COVID-19 vaccine and was subsequently dismissed has been awarded a year’s salary as compensation in a Commission...
Health Act amendments a bid by government 'to cling to power' – DA
The Health Ministry continues to face resistance to proposed regulations, described as “draconian” and “unconstitutional”, forcing people to submit to medical examination, quarantine and...
PPE contractor ordered to pay back R103m 'unlawful' tender
The Special Tribunal declared unlawful and invalid a multimillion-rand personal protective equipment (PPE) tender awarded by the Gauteng Department of Health to Zakheni Strategic...
‘Brain-dead’ boy’s parents win appeal fight in life-support case
The parents of 12-year-old British boy, Archie Battersbee, have won an appeal against ending his life support treatment. A court of appeal last week...
Roe vs Wade: US abortion rights’ ruling could hurt women worldwide
The US Supreme Court’s overturning of a landmark abortion ruling threatens the freedom of women in all countries – including South Africa.
While women in...
Health facility ordered to pay damages over 'finger bite' negligence
The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has ruled against a healthcare facility and in favour of a woman whose wedding ring finger was amputated after...
State hospitals owe R21bn in medical negligence claims
Medico-legal claims against the government amounted to billions over the past two financial years, most of it from claimants in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo,...
Medical intern with forged degree loses case to finish studies
A medical intern who worked for 16 months at Northdale Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, with a fake degree, has failed in a court bid to compel...
Report flags huge gaps in children's mental health services
Child and adolescent mental healthcare services in South Africa are dire, with only one in 10 children with diagnosable mental disorders able to receive...
Brazil rape survivor, 11, finally gets abortion at 29 weeks into pregnancy
An 11-year-old girl in Brazil who was raped and did not want to give birth after becoming pregnant received a legal abortion seven weeks...
Sanco alleges multimillion rand tender fraud at Tembisa Hospital
The SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) has called on the Special Investigative Unit to probe allegations of a multimillion-rand tender fraud at Tembisa Hospital.
These...
Court blocks Eastern Cape’s attempt to stop medical negligence payments
The Eastern Cape High Court has ruled against the provincial government’s attempt to stop money in the health department’s account from being attached by...
Solidarity calls for health regulations withdrawal before court hearing
Solidarity says it will request a punitive costs order if Health Minister Dr Joe Phaala does not withdraw the controversial health regulations.
Writing in Politicsweb,...
Suspended sentence for controversial Italian transplant surgeon
A Swedish court has given a disgraced Italian surgeon a suspended sentence for causing bodily harm during an experimental stem-cell windpipe transplant, BBC News...
Another legal win for Monsanto in Roundup cancer claim battles
Bayer subsidiary Monsanto has announced that an Oregon jury had sided with it in a verdict that glyphosate, the active chemical in its popularly...
Inquest into coeliac patient's death after eating Weetabix in hospital
An 80-year-old woman with coeliac disease died within days of being fed Weetabix in a British hospital, an inquest has heard, according to a...
ConCourt dismisses mother's bid to blame hospital for child's cerebral palsy
The Constitutional Court has dismissed a Johannesburg mother’s application against the Gauteng Health and Social Development MEC, in which she blamed Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg...
'Intern' who posed as doctor wants court to let him finish degree
A case of fraud has been opened against a man who never completed his degree but who worked as a doctor at Northdale Hospital...
SCA dismisses Minister’s tobacco ban appeal
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed an appeal by the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister against a High Court ruling that...
SIU apologises for long delay in transcribing Digital Vibes recordings
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) failed to transcribe the recorded key interviews that informed its findings against former health minister Zweli Mkhize in the...
SA nurse in UK fakes husband's death, struck off the roll
A South African nurse has been struck off Britain’s medical roll after claiming her husband had died so she could claim a £400,000 life...
UK’s NHS could cough up billions in infected blood scandal payments
Compensation for victims of the infected blood scandal, the biggest treatment disaster in the history of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), could cost billions...
HPCSA disciplinaries: Incompetent and unauthorised post-mortems and numerous counts of fraudulent medical aid claims
A GP who botched a postmortem, a graduate clinical technologist who illegally prescribed medication, and an orthotist who issues numerous fraudulent claims to a...
Groups drop vaccine legal suits
Two legal suits – one against a vaccine mandate and the other opposing a vaccines children's trial – have been abandoned by the applicants.
The...
Threat to Presidency DG confirms murder plot – Deokaran family
The family of assassinated whistle-blower Babita Deokaran, who was gunned down outside her Johannesburg home last August, said they hoped protection would be provided...
Sperm donor who fathered 15 children hid his low IQ genetic condition
A judge has ordered the identity of a British sperm donor, who fathered 15 children to lesbian women without revealing he has an inheritable...
Prison sentence for US doctor claiming ‘miracle cure’ for COVID
A San Diego doctor who boasted he had a miracle cure for COVID-19, at the height of the pandemic and before vaccines were available,...
High Court dismisses psychologist’s stay of inquiry bid
An application by psychologist Christie Els for a permanent stay of inquiry proceedings against her by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has...
PPE supplier challenges Tribunal’s power in R38m forfeiture dispute
Judgment was reserved last week in a case that carries major implications for the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) probe into COVID-19 procurement corruption. The...
Bogus doctors nabbed for selling fraudulent certificates
Two people were arrested for impersonating medical doctors and fraudulently issuing medical certificates to the public. They will appear in the Germiston Magistrate’s Court...
Female medical students win compensation over entrance test bias
After a four-year battle, female plaintiffs who sued a top medical university in Japan for gender discrimination won compensation at Tokyo District Court on...