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Medico-Legal
Listeriosis victims still awaiting justice
Five years since a listeriosis outbreak in SA killed more than 200 people and caused severe illness in many others, human rights lawyers are...
RAF and its CEO face contempt of court suit
Discovery Health plans to launch contempt of court proceedings against both the Road Accident Fund and CEO Collins Letsoalo “within the next few days”...
Prison for Indonesia cough syrup boss and staff after child deaths
The boss and three other officials of an Indonesian firm in East Java, whose cough syrup was linked to the deaths of more than...
Thousands of black women sue over cancer from hair products claims
Leading hair straightening products are being blamed for causing cancer in thousands of women of colour across America, who with their lawyers, are planning...
Life Esidimeni inquest concludes
Proceedings in the Life Esidimeni inquest have concluded, with the Pretoria High Court now tasked with making its findings and recommendations on who was...
US doctor (84) challenges age-based cognition screening
An ophthalmologist in America is suing a medical group for age discrimination because it requires a cognition assessment for those aged 70 and older.
Dr...
Parents sue company for daughter’s death after highly caffeinated beverage
The parents of 21-year-old college student Sarah Katz, who had severe arrhythmia, are suing a US company after alleging its lemonade played a role...
US flight attendants win chemicals-in-uniforms case
A Californian jury has ruled that a clothing company should pay more than $1m to four American Airlines flight attendants who blamed chemicals –...
Regulator loses bid to stop healthcare vouchers sale
SA's medical schemes regulator has lost its High Court bid to stop Discovery Health and a division of Netcare from selling prepaid private healthcare...
TikTok ‘doctor’ a free man after charges dropped
Charges were withdrawn this week against the man known on Tiktok as “Dr Matthew Lani”, who was arrested on Sunday night at Helen Joseph...
DA councillor in ‘bogus’ medical CV scandal
A DA councillor in Cape Town is being probed by the party over allegedly bogus medical qualifications . Abdulkader Elyas apparently claimed on his...
Ex-Mayo Clinic doctor charged with fatally poisoning pharmacist wife
A former US Mayo Clinic doctor faces 40 years behind bars if found guilty of fatally poisoning his pharmacist wife, whose death had initially...
HPCSA fines doctors for illegal body part harvesting, incorrect procedures, fraud …
MedicalBrief lists the medley of guilty judgments handed down by the Health Professions Council of SA between mid-July and September, from unauthorised removal of...
SECTION27 seeks culpable homicide charges against Life Esidimeni trio
Public interest law centre SECTION27 will argue for culpable homicide charges to be brought against three witnesses for their roles in the deaths of...
Accused in cough syrup deaths appear in Gambia court
A judge in a Gambian court has adjourned until 7 November a trial involving the deaths of 70 children linked to cough syrup made...
Woman wins case after cancer misdiagnosis and two years of treatment
In a shocking case of misdiagnosis, a British woman who spent two years having nine cycles of treatment after being told she had skin...
Hospital sued over woman's death after four-hour wait
A man has sued a Washington hospital after his wife, aged 41, died waiting for care in the emergency department waiting room last year,...
Parents appeal after losing dying baby’s treatment fight
The parents of a critically ill seven-month-old baby girl in Britain are preparing for an appeal after a judge ruled that doctors could withdraw...
Man with Covid who spat at nurse loses dismissal challenge
The dismissal of a man fired after spitting at a nurse – while he was awaiting the results of a Covid-19 test – has...
RAF refuses to budge on medical aid claims despite top court's ruling
Despite a Constitutional Court ruling last week compelling the Road Accident Fund to resume and honour payment of claims lodged on behalf of medical...
SCA overturns High Court ruling in R7m negligence case
An Mpumalanga mother, whose child’s cerebral palsy (CP) was probably due to health officials’ negligence, has been granted a R7m settlement from the provincial...
Suspended medico-legal lawyer’s trust account seized
In another blow for disgraced fraud-accused advocate Zuko Nonxuba – tied to numerous cases of trust misappropriation – the Legal Practice Council (LPC) has...
Fake doctor arrested after swindling thousands
Nearly one week after he gave police officers the slip during a search at his home, a bogus Facebook medical practitioner has been re-arrested.
IOL...
Prison for father and sons who peddled bleach ‘miracle’ Covid cure
A Florida man and three sons will face years behind bars for using a business masquerading as a church to rake in more than...
Lawyer who blew disabled children’s millions ‘should be struck off’
Fraud-accused lawyer Zuko Nonxuba, whose firm lodged medical negligence claims worth nearly R1bn against the Western and Eastern Cape Health Departments – where he...
Bogus TikTok doctor charged by Gauteng Health
The Health Department in Gauteng has opened a criminal case against a man who claimed on TikTok that he was a medical doctor, although...
Dis-Chem sued for R12m over CC sale agreement
Dis-Chem Pharmacies has been sued by a close corporation for about R12m in damages for allegedly breaching a sale agreement, but the trial’s status...
GSK settles another lawsuit on heartburn drug Zantac
British pharma giant GSK has agreed to settle another lawsuit in California alleging its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, in efforts to end costly...
Nurses who drugged patients to 'keep them quiet' found guilty
Two British nurses who needlessly sedated and tranquilised patients, and who also stole numerous drugs from the hospital’s dispensary, will never be allowed to...
Austalian surgeon denies ‘botch-up’ in defamation case
In a defamation trial in Sydney, a high-profile Australian orthopaedic surgeon – who is suing several publications (The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald), plus...
State scrabbles for solutions to medico-legal claims' burden
Health departments should “shift towards improving patient services at healthcare facilities rather than funding for possible litigation”, while significant, immediate improvements in archiving and...
Gynaes ‘play it safe’ as medico-legal claims rise
Each time Dr Franelise Hofmeyr has a consultation with a patient at Cape Town’s Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital she doesn’t simply jot down...
Northern Cape Health drowning in debt, corruption, inefficiency
The Northern Cape Health Department is in a dire state – its own annual report pointing to gaps in service provision; a third of...
Man claims R31m for Covid-19 jab ‘paralysis’
Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla and Pfizer have been served with a summons from a man alleging he became paralysed after a Covid-19...
Prison for US couple who gave false Alzheimer’s diagnoses
A couple, who falsely diagnosed dozens of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease, will spend time behind bars after being convicted of conspiracy, mail fraud and...
NHS to ban trans women from female wards
British Health Secretary Steve Barclay has announced a slew of proposed changes to the country’s National Health Service (NHS) system, including that transgender women...
Fedgroup Life ordered to pay critical illness claim
Fedgroup Life has accepted and implemented a final determination by the Long-Term Insurance Ombud to pay a disability and critical illness claim lodged by...
Experts worry about medical insurance fate under NHI
Legal experts at law firm Webber Wentzel say the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill has left many questions and mounting worries over what will...
Ex-DG faces R86m hospital tender fraud charges
Former North West DG Dr Lydia Sebego has been arrested in connection with more than R86m hospital tender fraud, and released on R10 000...
Greenlandic women to sue over forced contraception
Dozens of Greenlandic women, who say they were fitted with the contraceptive coil without their consent or knowledge, are planning to sue the Danish...