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Medico-Legal
Argentinian doctor faces jail for giving legal abortion
Abortion was legalised in Argentina in 2020, but the charges brought against Dr Miranda Ruiz show the battle for reproductive rights is not over.
Ruiz...
Attorney barred after making millions from dubious medical negligence claims
Attorney Zuko Nonxuba, accused of misappropriating hundreds of millions of rands in medical negligence payouts for severely disabled children, has finally been suspended from...
State’s attempt to regulate complementary medicines ruled invalid – SCA
The state’s regulations governing complementary medicines and health supplements are invalid, the Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled, dismissing with costs the application by...
‘Genetic link’ stipulation in Children’s Act foils infertile man’s surrogacy bid
A single, infertile South African man lost his application in the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) challenging a stipulation in the Children’s Act that a single...
Legal resistance to proposed changes to State of Disaster stipulations
ActionSA and Solidarity are among the organisations threatening legal action against the proposed changes to the amended State of Disaster regulations if accepted in...
Notifiable Medical Conditions amendments are ‘poorly drafted’ and ‘Orwellian’
A badly written amendment to the Notifiable Medical Conditions regulations will normalise a permanent totalitarian healthcare state, writes columnist Ivo Vegter, in Daily Friend.
As...
Phaahla extends comment deadline on controversial health regulations
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has extended the deadline for public comment on controversial health regulations that critics say entrench the extraordinary powers of...
150,000 public submissions on National Health Act
More than 150,000 submissions have been made on the amendments to the National Health Act, and the period for public comment has now been...
Free-for-all as federal judge strikes down Biden’s mask mandate
Confusion has followed a ruling by a federal judge in Florida who this week struck down President Joe Biden’s national mask mandate covering airplanes,...
Eviction of traditional healer and her animals reversed by Gauteng High Court
The owners of a Johannesburg business premises who kicked out a sangoma, along with some of the “tools of her trade”, from the office...
HPCSA gazettes its new adjusted fee structure
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has, by notice in the Government Gazette, published new rules for the payment of fees to...
Former Health Minister’s come-back ambition suffers new blows
The controversial decision of Parliament’s Ethics Committee to clear former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize of wrongdoing arising from the irregular Digital Vibes tender...
Rampant legal collusion in health sector corruption – MUT/Stellenbosch study
Collusion between legal practitioners – including the State Attorney’s Office – medical staff, politicians and administrators has resulted in the government being defrauded of...
After 5 years and a failed HPCSA disciplinary, anti-abortion doctor can complete training
After protesting his innocence since 2017, Dr Jacques de Vos can finally complete his community service and practise medicine, after the lifting of his...
SCA: ‘Unreasonable and egregious’ 24-year delay in injury compensation
Police officer Roebel Botha, who was injured 24 years ago while on duty, is due to receive compensation after a legal fight with the...
Resistance to Health Department’s stop-gap regulation powers
Some activist groupings and opposition political parties have rejected the idea of the replacement of the State of Disaster with temporary regulations to be...
Application to compel public release of expert COVID advice and decisions
Civil society organisation the Health Justice Initiative (HJI) has filed papers at the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, for the government to make expert COVID-19...
Confession claiming Mkhize was involved in Deokaran’s murder may not feature in trial
Legal experts and a retired High Court judge said on Tuesday (12 Apri) that if the confession of Phakamani Hadebe, one of six men...
‘Braai of masks’: Black Consumer Council calls for day of defiance of draft regulations
THE National Black Consumer Council (NBCC) is calling for a national defiance campaign against all COVID-19 protocols, including mask-wearing, hand-sanitisers, social distancing and the...
Trainee UK surgeon struck from roll over false sex claims and faked research
A trainee surgeon has been struck from the UK doctors’ register after a medical tribunal hearing found her guilty of “persistent and deliberate” dishonesty.
Dr...
Class action silicosis claimants so far paid R320m of R5bn settlement
It’s been a decade since gold miners afflicted by the lung disease silicosis first launched a class action suit seeking compensation from 30 gold...
Spain, in effect, criminalises protests outside abortion clinics
Spain has criminalised the harassment or intimidation of women going for an abortion under new legislation approved by the Senate last week.
The Guardian reports...
Pandemic’s predicted deluge of medical malpractice claims hasn’t happened
COVID-19 seemingly created the perfect conditions for medical malpractice claims, write Carol Holness, Anika de Kock and Donald Dinnie of Norton Rose Fulbright SA in...
MB and ChB among ‘unaccredited’ Walter Sisulu programmes flagged
Thousands of degrees awarded by Walter Sisulu University (WSU), including for Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (ChB), were claimed by the...
Court threats over South Africa’s ‘permanent State of Disaster’
Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s warning that government could again declare a State of Disaster if COVID-19 infections spiral, has...
Mbalula and RAF scrabble to prevent release of Auditor-General’s findings
The Auditor-General is in a tussle with the Minister of Transport and the Road Accident Fund over their efforts to prevent the release of...
Alcohol tags successful at keeping 97% of released offenders stay sober
More than 97% of offenders on sobriety tags have stayed off alcohol, a year after they were introduced in England following a successful pilot...
Criminal conviction for injection death causes consternation in US nursing profession
The conviction of US nurse RaDonda Vaught, found guilty last month in an accidental injection death, has sparked fear and outrage among many nurses,...
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...