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Medico-Legal
COVID-19: Lockdown Level 4 regulations amended
Amendments have been made to COVID-19 adjusted disaster management lockdown level four sub-regulations affecting accommodation establishments, the closure of schools and the transportation of...
ConCourt rejects sexual harassment doctor’s reinstatement bid
The Constitutional Court has refused former George Hospital head of anaesthesiology, Dr Charles James McGregor, leave to appeal his dismissal for sexual harassment and...
Cancer Alliance explores legal options to compel public/private treatment partnership
Cancer activists are exploring legal options to compel the government to deal with treatment backlogs in Gauteng by partnering with the private sector, reports...
R4bn in claims brings Eastern Cape Health close to collapse
The Bhisho legislature has been told that Eastern Cape Health is on the verge of collapse and has been paralysed by medico-legal claims worth...
US Supreme Court rejects bid to overturn Obamacare for 3rd time
The US Supreme Court has turned back its third chance to upend the Affordable Care Act, reports MedicalBrief.
By a 7-2 vote, the court rejected...
New regulations for employers on COVID-19 obligations in workplace
Employees who experience side effects can be booked off on paid sick leave by producing their vaccination certificate as proof, with no need for...
US Hospital workers lawsuit challenging mandatory vaccine ‘without merit’
A United States federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by 117 workers at a Texas hospital over its requirement that they be vaccinated...
Most PPE distributors investigated not licensed — SIU
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) procurement found most companies awarded contracts were not accredited or certified to handle...
UCT neuropsychologists win a small victory against HPCSA
The persistent problems that medical professionals have in getting the Health Professions Council registration necessary in order to practise was highlighted again in the Western Cape...
NMB doctor gets 576 hours hospital service over RAF fraud
A Nelson Mandela Bay doctor must clock up a total of 576 hours at Livingstone Hospital as part of his sentence for attempting to...
UK takes the D-I-Y route on road accident injury compensation
The launch of the UK’s online personal injury compensation service will, says Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland QC bring an end to 'greedy opportunism’, reports...
Gauteng mother loses custody in unique Covid restriction
A Gauteng magistrate's court granted the estranged father of a toddler temporary custody because the child's mother had tested positive for Covid-19, reports Saturday...
Customary Initiation Act encompassing 'provincial peculiarities' gazetted
The Customary Initiation Act was gazetted on Saturday but is not yet in force, reports Legalbrief. Underpinned by a policy on the customary practice...
SAPS officers going on duty with Covid-19 may face attempted murder charges
SA Police Service (SAPS) officers have been warned that reporting for duty after testing positive for Covid-19 could result in facing attempted murder charges,...
Cosatu backs 'ruthless' enforcement of proposed new drink/drive limits
Cosatu says the proposed amendment banning drinking and driving is progressive, long overdue and should be enforced ruthlessly, reports Cape Argus.
Officials from the Department...
SA Law Reform Commission: Medical community comment invited on disability rights
Stakeholders now have until 30 June to comment on a South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) issue paper intended to stimulate debate on the...
Moves on medical cannabis legalisation divide Africa
A minor legal change within the UN that would remove some barriers for medical cannabis use has caused deep divisions in Africa, reports Daily...
Storm brews in SA’s medical malpractice insurance market
Local medical malpractice insurers are unhappy that the UK-based Medical Protection Society is allowed to operate in South Africa without being a licensed financial...
Digital Vibes scandal: Pressure on Health Minister increases
Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize faces further problems — as well as resignation pressure — with revelations that the communications company that got “highly...
Settlement in Bayer cancer class action rejected
A US judge has declined to grant preliminary approval for a settlement against Bayer over claims that their Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, reports Jurist.
Research...
State and constitutional activists in rare agreement
The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) judgment declaring lockdown regulations invalid and unconstitutional was a case of judicial overreach, the Supreme Court of Appeal heard,...
Traditional healers sentenced for wild garlic collection
A group of Cape Town ‘bush doctors’, who illegally collected protected plants for medicinal use without permits, were given suspended sentences, reports Mail&Guardian.
They sell...
DoH 'working as fast as possible' on stringent Control of Tobacco Bill
South Africa's national Health Department said this week that it is working to get more stringent anti-smoking laws passed, reports Eyewitness News.
EWN writes that...
SIU: Covid-19 decontamination deal 'manifestly unlawful'
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has obtained an order to freeze R40.7m worth of bank accounts and assets after finding that the procurement process...
Medscheme's 14-year battle with software developer goes to arbitration
A 14-year battle between software developer Neil Harvey and Medscheme over alleged copyright infringement will now go to arbitration, reports Financial Mail.
FM reports that...
Namibia debates repeal of apartheid-era sodomy law
Namibia’s Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab says the government cannot police the sex lives of individuals and will not regulate or criminalise homosexuality, reports The...
SANDF doctor's sex assault and rape sentences reduced
A military doctor who appealed his conviction and sentence for rape and sexual assault at the Western Cape High Court was only partly successful...
Bogus doctor allegedly raped another Mpumalanga hospital patient
An Mpumalanga hospital worker who recently appeared in court for allegedly raping a pregnant teen is accused of committing a similar offence at the...
Eastern Cape Health sued over 'unauthorised' hysterectomy
Eastern Cape Health is being sued for R3m after a doctor removed as mother's uterus, allegedly without her knowledge, when she developed an infection...
Labour Appeal Court: Unions caused nurses' pay differential, not discrimination
The the pay differentiation between three black nursing professionals and their white colleague at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) was a result of...
Solution to R105bn in medical negligence claims is ‘state health care’
Parliament’s Health Portfolio Committee has called on the Department of Health to take over the medical care of victims of medical negligence at public...
German firm must pay victims of defective PIP breast implants
Thousands of victims of defective breast implants manufactured in France should receive compensation, a Paris appeals court ruled after finding that German firm TUV...
US doctor's 59-year jail sentence for unnecessary procedures
A US obstetrician and gynAecologist was sentenced to 59 years in jail for performing medically unnecessary surgeries including hysterectomies and improper sterilisations on over...
Push back against SA's smoking and vaping Bill
Representatives from the tobacco and vaping industry have held consultations with the government on the Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems...
MoU signed on SA's health market inquiry recommendations
A memorandum of understanding between the Competition Commission and the Council for Medical Schemes gazetted during the weekend is expected, among other things, to...
Life Esidimeni Memorial Portal goes live ahead of inquest
Five years after the Life Esidimeni tragedy, when at least 144 people died under disturbing circumstances, families of the victims are still angry, reports...
UK still undecided on call to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents
The UK government is in talks about a plan to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents to boost the production of shots in low and middle-income...
Cameroon probes theft from IMF's $382m COVID-fund donation
Cameroon’s government auditors claim ministries and state bodies misappropriated and mismanaged internationally donated funds to the country's national coronavirus response plan, reports News24.
The International...
HPCSA: All medical scheme assets should go to NHI
The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) told Parliament that the current reserves of medical schemes – estimated at more than R90bn – must...
Cele plans legislation to capture DNA of all South Africans
Some 47,000 criminals convicted of serious Schedule 8 offences were not required to provide DNA samples on their release as the Police Ministry had...