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Medico-Legal
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...
Agoraphobic mother may be forcibly hospitalised to give birth
An agoraphobic pregnant woman can be forcibly removed from her home in order to give birth in hospital, a UK judge has ruled, reports...
Lawyers urge 'buffer zone' outside UK abortion clinics
British lawyers have threatened to launch a first-of-its-kind legal action to introduce a ‘buffer zone’ outside abortion clinics to stop protesters ‘heartlessly’ targeting women...
Doctors, nurses and paramedics are 'soft targets' for criminals
Not only are doctors, nurses and paramedics on the COVID-19 frontline, but they are increasingly being seen as soft targets by opportunistic criminals, writes...
HPCSA disciplinary findings — March 2021
A doctor guilty of failing to take a patient's pre-operative history, as well as neglecting to monitor blood pressure and respond to cardiac arrest,...
US judge orders administration of Ivermectin to comatose patient
At request of her family an Illinois judge has ordered that a comatose woman suffering from COVID-19 to be administered Ivermectin, against the advice...
India Supreme Court orders review of 'discriminatory' vaccination plan
The Supreme Court of India has issued an order asking the central government to review India’s current vaccination plan in the midst of the...
Uganda criminalises human sacrifices with death sentence
Uganda’s parliament has passed a Bill criminalising human sacrifice and prescribing life sentences on conviction for related offences, reports BBC News.
Until now, the country’s...
Uganda surreptitiously reintroduces homosexuality ban in new Bill
Uganda's Parliament has ‘quietly’ passed the Sexual Offences Bill 2019 which reintroduced a ban on homosexuality in the country, reports Uganda Radio Network.
Lawmakers also...
SIU finds legal practitioner corruption in negligence claims; Mkhize wants 'no-fault' fund
An updated Special Investigating Unit report confirms the role of some corrupt attorneys and advocates in Eastern Cape Health's R37bn medical-negligence headache, writes MedicalBrief....
Labour Court orders dismissal of 'reckless' worker who defied COVID-19 regulations
An assistant butcher at Eskort Limited, who defied COVID-19 regulations and went to work even though he had tested positive, has been dismissed by...
Eastern Cape abandons scooter ambulance project
After months of controversy, allegations and serious findings by the Special Investigating Unit against the former MEC for Health and the former superintendent-general, Eastern...
Indian hospitals approach court to resolve oxygen shortages
A two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court has become the last hope for many hospitals struggling to get oxygen for COVID-19 patients as...
84 Namibian doctors accused of defrauding state medical scheme
The Namibian Ministry of Finance has identified a list of 84 doctors who are accused of stealing millions of dollars through the government's medical...
SAPS makes 'great strides' in ending DNA testing backlog
Police management has confirmed that they have made ‘great strides’ to overcome the backlog in DNA testing, while the system to track and trace...
12 SANDF doctors acquitted for 'disobeying' WhatsApp orders
Twelve military doctors who ‘disobeyed’ a WhatsApp message to be deployed on a COVID-19 mission to the Eastern Cape have been acquitted by the...
SA gazettes vaccine compensation regulations despite outcry
South Africans who claim from the COVID-19 vaccine injury fund will give up rights to approach the courts to sue the government or health...
Suspended hospital CEO challenges Mkhize in court application
Tembisa Hospital CEO Dr Lekopane Mogaladi has hauled Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize to court in a bid to force him to appoint an...
3 patients ‘mutilated’ by surgeon in a week prompts NHS shake-up
The Royal College of Surgeons was called in to investigate a string of devastating injuries from routine surgery by the same surgeon about which...
Mkhize's former spokesperson in more bad Digital Vibes
Tahera Mather, a long-time associate and former personal spokesperson of Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, was at the centre of a dubious communications contract...
Durban Nurse lied about HIV infection to claim insurance payout
A Durban nurse who attempted to score on her R1m dread disease insurance cover by falsely claiming she acquired HIV while on duty, has...
Arrest and assault charge for Spanish man who knowingly spread COVID
A man has been arrested in Spain on suspicion of assault after allegedly infecting 22 people with COVID, reports BBC News.
The 40-year-old is alleged...
EC to sue AstraZenaca for under-delivery of vaccines
The European Commission is getting ready to launch legal proceedings against vaccine producer AstraZeneca. Politico reports that according to six EU diplomats, the EC...
AG warns urgent intervention needed to prevent provincial health collapse
South Africa's Auditor-General has warned that without urgent intervention, a number of provincial health services face collapse, writes MedicalBrief. Outstanding medico-legal claims amount to...
Cape Town surgeon 'pays' for tax submission failures with ops
A Cape Town orthopaedic surgeon who for nine years failed to submit his company income tax returns had charges withdrawn after he completed a...
Charlotte Maxeke workers disciplined for human rights violations
The Gauteng Health Department has handed two-month suspensions and final written warnings to 40 employees of the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital for actions...
No-fault compensation fund rules released for 'rushed' comment
The regulations on the government's proposed Covid-19 vaccine injury no-fault compensation scheme were posted on the Department of Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs website...