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Medico-Legal
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...
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...