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Medico-Legal
6 law firms fail in bid to oust RAF boss
Six law firms that challenged Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula’s appointment of Collins Letsoalo as head of the Road Accident Fund (RAF) have lost their...
Limpopo Health MEC calls for law reform to stem medico-legal liability
The Limpopo Department of Health intends using money meant for buying medicines for clinics, health centres and hospitals to settle the R14bn medico-legal contingency...
New SAPS commissioner: DNA backlog a top priority
Newly-appointed Police Commissioner General Sehlahle Masemola has said the country’s DNA backlog was being prioritised and that more people had been employed to help...
US passes Bill to decriminalise marijuana use and erase convictions
US federal agencies will now be prevented from denying federal workers security clearances for cannabis use, and the criminal records of people convicted for...
Portfolio committee extends scope of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice & Correctional Services has extended the scope of the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill to cover a wider range...
Finance minister delays increase in SA sugar tax for 12 months
The 4.5% increase in the sugar tax announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in his budget speech in February has been put on hold...
R37m medical negligence award overturned despite state admission of liability
A R37m medical negligence award against Eastern Cape Health to a single mother caring for a severely disabled child against has been rescinded, reports...
‘Self-serving’ HPCSA chief loses bid to overturn suspension over fraud and corruption charges
Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) CEO and registrar Dr David Motau has lost his Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) bid to overturn his suspension,...
More medical experts join battle against RAF CEO over unpaid R150m
In a groundswell of support, more medico-legal experts have joined the group taking on Road Accident Fund (RAF) CEO Collins Letsoalo over at least...
Nurse faces 8 years in jail following criminal prosecution over fatal injection
In a case with implications for medical staff working under pressure, last Friday (25 March), US nurse RaDonda Vaught was convicted of criminally negligent...
Kenyan High Court declares abortion-related arrests illegal
The High Court in Malindi has declared the arrest and prosecution of females seeking abortions to be illegal. CapitalFM reports that the landmark ruling...
Anglo American knew about lead poisoning for decades – Class-action lawyers
Blood lead levels in children living near the world’s largest lead mine in Zambia have been present for generations and have resulted in cognitive...
Neurologist lashes RAF chief’s ‘pitiful and preposterous excuses’
Responding to Road Accident Fund (RAF) CEO Collins Letsoalo attack on medical professionals for approaching Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo over non-payment for specialist...
R50m medicines and food donation to Cuba interdicted pending review decision
AfriForum has successfully interdicted government's planned R50m medicines and food donation to Cuba, reports News24. In a written judgment to the affected parties, Judge...
Medical assessment to be required for surrogacy agreements – Gauteng High Court
A Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) judgment that sets new guidelines for courts to take into consideration before granting surrogacy agreements require that a medical...
Nobel laureate urges SA rejects WTO compromise on patent rights
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has joined a call from activists and researchers for President Cyril Ramaphosa to reject the proposed compromise that emerged...
US nurse on trial for reckless homicide over administration of deadly drug
Nursing bodies and legal experts have expressed concern over the trial of a US nurse on criminal charges of reckless homicide and felony abuse...
SIU sets sights on NGOs that benefited from Life Esidimeni tragedy
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is taking on the NGOs which scored financially from the transfer of mental healthcare patients in Gauteng during the...
KZN: Rape and murder of child highlights ‘tragic consequences’ of DNA test backlog
The backlog in DNA testing in cases of violent crimes has been flagged by a KZN judge after a rape accused, who was set...
Gauteng High Court asked to rule on Zambia lead-poisoning class action
Legal firm Mbuyisa Moleele and UK counterpart Leigh Day have filed further evidence in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) in an attempt to convince...
SIU to probe waste management corruption allegations at Limpopo Health
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration at the Department of Health in Limpopo, reports The Citizen.
This after...
UK hospital tells police patient ‘could not have been raped’ since attacker was transgender
A hospital told the police that a patient could not have been raped because her alleged attacker was trans, Britain’s House of Lords has...
RAF chief attacks medical experts over ‘unethical and potentially unlawful’ letter to Zondo
The approach by medical professionals to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo over the failure of the Road Accident Fund to pay them for expert...
Landmark decision: High Court orders ‘reprehensible’ KZN Health to allow private training of nurses
The Pietermaritzburg High Court this week directed KwaZulu-Natal Health to authorise within 10 days a Hospital Association of SA (HASA) application for the training...
CCMA upholds ‘anti-vaxxer’ dismissal but awards compensation for WhatsApp firing
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) ruled the dismissal of an “anti-vaxxer” substantively fair but awarded compensation because the employer, a legal...
Uganda Medical Association wants spitting receptacles in public places and vehicles
Ugandans found spitting in public could spend a year in prison or pay a fine of about R12,450 if proposed changes to the Public...
Numsa takes Gautrain to CCMA over suspension of unvaccinated workers
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has taken Gautrain to the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for suspending staff...
SIU blacklisting of PPE-looters not implemented by govt departments, municipalities
Attempts by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to have more than 500 companies blacklisted for PPE looting have not materialised because of a lack...
Correctional Services committee briefed on lack of psychiatric beds
MPs have been told that the non-availability of beds at South African mental health institutions was one of the contributing factors in the accumulation...
ConCourt reserves judgment on decriminalisation of child use of cannabis
That children are still prosecuted for the use and possession of cannabis, an act that has been decriminalised for adults, presents a dangerous narrative,...
Older Persons Amendment Bill now in Parliament – Full contents
Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has introduced the Older Persons Amendment Bill to Parliament. The Bill will amend the Older Persons Act 2006 by inserting...
Texas sued to block investigations into parents over transgender surgery
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU has filed a lawsuit asking a Texas State Court to block officials from investigating parents who seek medically...
RAF revolt: Experts withdraw medico-legal opinions over non-payment
This article has been updated with comment from the RAF
Medical professionals contracted to provide expert opinions in Road Accident Fund (RAF) court hearings, have...
Ultimatum to SA universities is about ‘experimentation’ not ‘unscientific rejection’ of vaccinations
The Universities Alliance SA (Uasa), an activist organisation representing higher education students and staff, has threatened a a class-action lawsuit against tertiary institutions over...
Medical tenders on hold over ‘bizarre’ directive on ConCourt’s BEE ruling
State-employed doctors are battling without stethoscopes, blood glucose monitors and other equipment while the National Treasury quibbles about the implications of a Constitutional Court...
SANDF soldier pleads not guilty to murder after allegedly infecting partner with HIV
An SA National Defence Force soldier accused of intentionally infecting his partner with HIV has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, reports News24.
The man...
Moderna set for clash with WHO over COVID patent applications in SA
There’s a clash looming between Moderna, on the one side, and the South African government and the World Health Organization (WHO) on the other,...
40 years later: Court rules that Dr Neil Aggett was tortured and killed by police
More than 40 years after anti-apartheid activist Dr Neil Aggett’s death was declared a suicide while in detention, the Johannesburg High Court has found...
Rhodes claims victory in first battle against anti-vaxxers
Rhodes University will proceed with its COVID-19 mandatory vaccine requirement for all staff, students and visitors to its campus after an urgent Eastern Cape...
Philippines raises sex consent age from 12-years-old
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a Bill that raises the minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16, his office...