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Medico-Legal
Dagga Bill regulating private use approved by Cabinet
Cabinet has approved the Bill regulating the private use of cannabis and setting the limit of the quantity that may be possessed by an...
US ruling orders pharmas to provide missing clinical trial data
Hundreds of drug companies, medical device manufacturers, and universities owe the public a decade’s worth of missing data from clinical trials, STAT News reports.
New...
National Public Health Institute Amendment Act gazetted
The 2020 National Public Health Institute of SA Act was gazetted on 7 August, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. The Act (written...
Competition Commission's new approach to price gouging hits small firms hard
South Africa's competition authorities have acted with speed in an attempt to curb excessive pricing and its hitting small that firms would not normally meet...
SCA on negligence appeal: No such thing as diagnostic infallibility
Medical science has not advanced to the stage of diagnostic infallibility and sympathy is not grounds for imposing legal liability, wrote Judge Malcolm Wallis...
Gauteng judgment may transform treatment of children who use drugs
A law that criminalises children who possess or use cannabis has been declared unconstitutional by Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) Judge Ingrid Opperman, who said...
Criminal proceedings over negligence will have dire consequences
Recent legal actions against practising medical professionals may deter new entrants and cause experienced practitioners to retire, which has dire consequences for effective healthcare...
Questions over Eastern Cape strategy on R29bn in negligence claims
The Eastern Cape Health Department has released a detailed list of “interventions” to deal with its burgeoning R29bn slate of medical negligence claims against...
UK braces for flood of compensation claims over sidelining of cancer patients
Clinical negligence lawyers in the UK expect a flood of claims in the coming months over fears that cancer diagnosis and treatment have been...
Tobacco giant challenges government's Covid-19 strategy
South Africa’s largest cigarette manufacturer, British American Tobacco (Batsa), says the state's justification for banning the sale of tobacco products during lockdown is an...
Fita applies for direct leave to appeal cigarette ban
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) registrar has granted an application for dates in the filing of an application for leave to appeal brought...
Dlamini-Zuma promises regular re-evaluation of 'empirical evidence' for alcohol ban
Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in papers before the High Court that the government will re-evaluate the alcohol ban regularly,...
US workers unleash a wave of COVID-19 negligence lawsuits
Major employers across the US are facing a wave of lawsuits filed by workers claiming they contracted the novel coronavirus as a result of...
Esidimeni families threaten action over non-payment
The Gauteng government is gearing for another legal battle over the Life Esidimeni scandal that left 144 psychiatric patients dead – this time over...
Military doctors refuse deployment by WhatsApp to Eastern Cape
Twelve military doctors were charged after failing to go to the Eastern Cape to help with the COVID-19 effort there, but they argue their...
Matriculant left quadriplegic after rugby injury wins claim 14 years later
The Gauteng High Court has ruled that a then 18-year-old matriculant left a paraplegic after he was carried off the rugby field without a...
Lobby group turns to SCA over tobacco ban
The Fair Trade and Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) is fighting for its cigarette sales ban challenge to be urgently heard by the Supreme Court...
Woman who posed for 2 years as medical intern sent for mental evaluation
A 23-year-old KwaZulu-Natal woman, Nokwanda Ndlovu, has been sent to Fort Napier Hospital for mental evaluation by Nkandla Regional Court Magistrate Morne Swanepoel. Ndlovu,...
Independent pharmacists finally victorious in CMS appeal — Full judgment
After a seven-year saga, the Appeals Board of the Council for Medical Schemes has found in favour of the Independent Community Pharmacy Association of...
Independent pharmacists finally victorious in CMS appeal
Putting an end to a seven-year saga, the Appeals Board of the Council for Medical Schemes has found in favour of the Independent Community...
ConCourt overturns conviction of jailed gynaecologist
Obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Danie van der Walt, found guilty in 2017 of culpable homicide in connection with the death of a patient and...
Fita appeals to courts to stop being 'unduly deferential'
Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has criticised the Fair-Trade and Independent Tobacco Association’s efforts to appeal the High Court’s refusal to...
New directives on self-quarantine gazetted
A new Health Department directive prescribes the facilities and support mechanisms that should be in place at the residence of anyone wishing to self-isolate...
NHS pays out record amount in maternity negligence case
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is to make a £37m payout to the parents of a baby boy who was left severely brain-damaged...
Fraud charges after dodgy sanitiser is blamed for outbreak at school
Legal action has been ordered against a company that supplied sanitisers to Makaula Senior Secondary School – where 204 pupils and staff tested positive...
Wits disavows 'student' arrested for posing as a doctor
University of the Witwatersrand has no record of a Nokwanda Ndlovu ever being a registered student at the institution. TimesLIVE reports that this is according...
Zimbabwe pharma sued over cancellation of $60m COVID-19 tender
A controversial international pharmaceutical consultancy, linked to Zimbabwe's sacked former health minister, is suing Zimbabwe’s National Pharmaceutical Company over the cancellation of a US$60m...
Zambia's Health Minister in court on corruption charges
Zambia’s Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya has appeared before a Lusaka magistrate and denied four counts of corruption involving alleged purchase of business shares and...
Pandemic is a 'perfect storm' for fake medicines in West Africa
The counterfeit pharmaceutical industry is thriving in West Africa, with law enforcement agencies battling to crack down on foreign-linked criminal syndicates. And criminals have...
R15m settlement after failure to monitor foetus with CTG
An Aliwal North woman has secured a R15m settlement from Eastern Cape Health after the negligence of staff at two hospitals led to her baby...
UK competition authority fines Aspen Pharmacare R45m
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has imposed a £2.1m (R45m) fine on Aspen Pharmacare for entering into an illegal agreement that allowed it...
European Commission wants feedback on Aspen's proposal
The European Commission has requested feedback on a proposal by Aspen Pharmacare to cut prices on six cancer drugs by three quarters, to remove...
Judge sceptical about Bayer settlement of Roundup claims
Bayer AG shares have slumped after a US judge questioned part of the company's recent multibillion-dollar settlement over its glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup, reports...
Gabon's decision to decriminalise homosexuality welcomed
The UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has welcomed a decision by Gabon to decriminalise homosexuality, joining a growing number of countries in Africa that...
UK proposes maximum jail sentences for violence against emergency workers
Maximum jail sentences for violent offences against emergency workers could be doubled to two years in England and Wales, under proposals put forward by...
Eastern Cape Health MEC lambasted for 'slothful' approach to litigation
Eastern Cape Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba has been sent packing by Eastern Cape High Court (Mthatha) Judge Richard Brooks in a R23m medical negligence...
Dis-Chem appeals excessive pricing conviction and R1.2m fine
Dis-Chem is appealing its excessive-pricing conviction and its R1.2m fine by the Competition Tribunal, arguing that it does not have dominance in the face...
Fita appeals COVID-19 health ban on tobacco sales
The Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) has applied for leave to appeal against the ruling by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) that the sale...
SIU move against former head of Gauteng Health over Life Esidimeni fraud
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has pounced on government officials and public representatives who defrauded the government of more than R10.6m under the guise...
COVID-19 database: Amendments around privacy
Although the law permits the National Health Department to develop and maintain a national database to assist in combatting the spread of COVID-19, which...