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Medico-Legal
DA taking government to court over vaccine strategy
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has announced it is taking government to court as President Cyril Ramaphosa is yet to give full details of the...
SCA: Doctor must face HPCSA over 'investments' solicited from patients
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has overturned a High Court decision that shielded a doctor accused of improperly persuading patients to invest in...
We should not allow a cannabis free-for-all – Yale ethicist
Mental health and addiction experts should lead the development of guidelines around the use of cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes, writes Dr Sarah...
Inquiry finds schemes discriminated against black healthcare providers
Some of South Africa’s biggest medical aid schemes practised "unfair racial discrimination" in their fraud, waste and abuse investigations of black healthcare providers, found...
UK coalition seeks emergency indemnity over COVID-19 treatment decisions
Emergency legislation is needed to protect British doctors and nurses from "inappropriate" legal action over critical COVID-19 treatment decisions made amid the pressures of...
SA's vexing problem of liability for potential vaccine side-effects
Who is liable for serious vaccine side effects? That, says a report in The Times, s an unanswered question hovering over negotiations between government...
4,200 wine farmers threaten legal action on alcohol ban
Just a week after SA Breweries took the government to court over its alcohol sales ban, a group representing about 4,200 family-owned wine farms...
Hawks investigating allegedly inflated SAPS PPE tenders
Two top cops assigned by Police Commissioner Khehla Sitole to investigate and suspend Crime Intelligence head Peter Jacobs on charges of alleged personal protective...
WSU students guilty of murder of final-year medical student
Four Walter Sisulu University (WSU) students have been found guilty of the murder of final-year medical student Lwando Mantshontsho (23) in his room at...
PE specialist faces eight sexual misconduct complaints
Eight former patients of a Port Elizabeth medical specialist have laid criminal complaints against him – six of sexual assault and two of rape....
Harare lab owned by former Health minister linked to COVID-19 'scam'
A private laboratory, reportedly owned by disgraced Zimbabwean Health Minister Obadiah Moyo, is accused of issuing fake COVID-19 certificates to international travellers without them...
Government and Batsa clash again in appeals and counter-appeals over tobacco ban
The government is appealing the Western Cape High Court judgment that the ban on the trade of tobacco products during the hard lockdown was...
Smoking associated with increased risk of COVID-19 – Or maybe not?
The government and the tobacco lobby are squaring up for another round of appeals and counter-appeals in the South African courts, over the state’s right to...
Constitutionality of alcohol ban challenged after government 'fails to consider alternatives'
SA Breweries (SAB) will challenge the constitutionality of the blanket ban on alcohol sales, which was re-introduced late in December and was this week...
Amended COVID-19 disaster management regulations gazetted
The COVID-19 disaster management regulations for adjusted lockdown level three have been amended to reflect measures announced in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s latest address to...
Ramaphosa seeks tougher alcohol abuse laws
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for tougher legislation and community mobilisation against the abuse of alcohol. In the ANC's annual 8 January statement to...
Durban hospital and pharmacist charged over dispensing of Ivermectin
Mayville's Ahmed Al-Kadi (AAK) Hospital has been charged for violating the Medicines and Related Substances Act after a pharmacist allegedly administered anti-parasite drug Ivermectin...
Health ministry investigates pharmacologist over claims of anti-COVID-19 drug treatment
A pharmacologist is being investigated by the Health Ministry for claiming that he developed an anti-COVID-19 drug treatment. According to a Cape Argus report,...
Doctor guilty of R2.25m RAF fraud
An Eastern Cape doctor has been found guilty on fraud and corruption charges, notes a News24 report. Tony Moodley (66) appeared in the Specialised...
Dlamini-Zuma appeal may mean another smoking ban — Fita
The Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) has warned that a decision by the government to appeal a judgment declaring the prohibition of tobacco...
US-Ghanaian surgeon who saved rapper 50 cent guilty of $29m fraud
Dr Moses de-Graft Johnson, a dual citizen of the United States and Ghana, pled guilty today to committing health care fraud, conspiracy to commit...
Eastern Cape doctor guilty of defrauding Road Accident Fund
An Eastern Cape doctor has been found guilty of fraud and corruption, after he lodged a false claim of R2.25m with the Road Accident...
Medical scientists call for Chief Justice’s impeachment over vaccination comments
Are South Africa's Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng comments on a COVID-19 vaccine that is ‘of the Devil’ deserving of calls by medical scientists and...
Dementia class action likely to force world rugby unions to act
World rugby union authorities are likely to be forced into immediate safety measures to reduce the risk of lawsuits from current and future players,...
SIU gets another bloodied nose in attempt to reopen settled medical negligence claim
For the second time, the Eastern Cape High Court has rebuffed attempts to revisit a medical negligence claim that was previously settled but is...
Legal action against Department of Health for failing to place junior doctor
The SA Department of Health (DoH) faces legal action for allegedly failing to place a medical graduate at a state facility to complete her...
Ockenden Report into 'one of the biggest scandals in NHS history'
An independent review by senior midwife Donna Ockenden into what has been described as the biggest maternity scandal in the history of the British...
British mutation of coronavirus: 'Faster but not more serious'
The UK has notified the World Health Organisation over the latest variant, which appears to be responsible for the faster spread of the virus...
England rugby CEO says lawsuit threat over concussion can drive change
Bill Sweeney, the chief executive of the England Rugby Football Union admits it must “allay fears” about the safety of the game as the...
AG: SANDF already paid some of R260m for Cuban COVID 'wonder cure'
The Auditor-General has confirmed that the SA National Defence Force has been invoiced to the tune of R260m for Heberon Interferon-Alpha-2B, an unregistered medical...
Health Ombud completes probe into Tembisa Hospital patient's death
The Office of the Health Ombud has completed its investigation into the death of businessman Shonisani Lethole at Tembisa Tertiary Hospital in July, reports...
Office of Health Standards Compliance publishes enforcement policy
A recently-gazetted Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) norms and standards enforcement policy prescribes the process to be followed by its employees in their...
World rugby faces landmark class action over neurological damage
World rugby authorities face a group class action for negligence following diagnoses of early onset dementia among retired players allegedly caused by repeated blows...
SCA opens the door to curbing malicious HPCSA complainants
A recent South African Supreme Court of Appeal judgment, in the case of a clinical psychologist against a mining company, may open the door...
CMS fails to place medical fund under curatorship
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has suffered a major loss in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) where its attempt to place Sizwe Medical...
NHLS executives suspended following PwC audit
The National Health Laboratory Service has suspended its chief financial officer, supply chain head and an unspecified number of other officials after a PricewaterhouseCoopers...
Landmark UK ruling on puberty blockers for under-16s
Children under 16 with gender dysphoria are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to undergo treatment with puberty-blocking drugs, three UK High...
COVID-19: SA imposes stricter international visitor requirements
Among other things, a directive issued yesterday by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has implications for prospective visitors to SA during the Covid-19 State of...
SIU briefs media on health sector corruption cases
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) says it has dealt with 20 allegations of serious maladministration, fraud and corruption relating to the health sector, reports...
R173m annual SAPS healthcare tender is challenged
The tender to render police healthcare services over the next three years is being challenged one of the losing bidders, who has asked the...