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Medico-Legal
Fake doctor arrested after swindling thousands
Nearly one week after he gave police officers the slip during a search at his home, a bogus Facebook medical practitioner has been re-arrested.
IOL...
Prison for father and sons who peddled bleach ‘miracle’ Covid cure
A Florida man and three sons will face years behind bars for using a business masquerading as a church to rake in more than...
Lawyer who blew disabled children’s millions ‘should be struck off’
Fraud-accused lawyer Zuko Nonxuba, whose firm lodged medical negligence claims worth nearly R1bn against the Western and Eastern Cape Health Departments – where he...
Bogus TikTok doctor charged by Gauteng Health
The Health Department in Gauteng has opened a criminal case against a man who claimed on TikTok that he was a medical doctor, although...
Dis-Chem sued for R12m over CC sale agreement
Dis-Chem Pharmacies has been sued by a close corporation for about R12m in damages for allegedly breaching a sale agreement, but the trial’s status...
GSK settles another lawsuit on heartburn drug Zantac
British pharma giant GSK has agreed to settle another lawsuit in California alleging its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, in efforts to end costly...
Nurses who drugged patients to 'keep them quiet' found guilty
Two British nurses who needlessly sedated and tranquilised patients, and who also stole numerous drugs from the hospital’s dispensary, will never be allowed to...
Austalian surgeon denies ‘botch-up’ in defamation case
In a defamation trial in Sydney, a high-profile Australian orthopaedic surgeon – who is suing several publications (The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald), plus...
State scrabbles for solutions to medico-legal claims' burden
Health departments should “shift towards improving patient services at healthcare facilities rather than funding for possible litigation”, while significant, immediate improvements in archiving and...
Gynaes ‘play it safe’ as medico-legal claims rise
Each time Dr Franelise Hofmeyr has a consultation with a patient at Cape Town’s Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital she doesn’t simply jot down...
Northern Cape Health drowning in debt, corruption, inefficiency
The Northern Cape Health Department is in a dire state – its own annual report pointing to gaps in service provision; a third of...
Man claims R31m for Covid-19 jab ‘paralysis’
Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla and Pfizer have been served with a summons from a man alleging he became paralysed after a Covid-19...
Prison for US couple who gave false Alzheimer’s diagnoses
A couple, who falsely diagnosed dozens of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease, will spend time behind bars after being convicted of conspiracy, mail fraud and...
NHS to ban trans women from female wards
British Health Secretary Steve Barclay has announced a slew of proposed changes to the country’s National Health Service (NHS) system, including that transgender women...
Fedgroup Life ordered to pay critical illness claim
Fedgroup Life has accepted and implemented a final determination by the Long-Term Insurance Ombud to pay a disability and critical illness claim lodged by...
Experts worry about medical insurance fate under NHI
Legal experts at law firm Webber Wentzel say the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill has left many questions and mounting worries over what will...
Ex-DG faces R86m hospital tender fraud charges
Former North West DG Dr Lydia Sebego has been arrested in connection with more than R86m hospital tender fraud, and released on R10 000...
Greenlandic women to sue over forced contraception
Dozens of Greenlandic women, who say they were fitted with the contraceptive coil without their consent or knowledge, are planning to sue the Danish...
Department pays R500 000 'humanitarian’ payout for ‘paralysis’ after tooth extraction
A woman who said she became paralysed after a 2002 tooth extraction at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in the Eastern Cape, and who initially claimed...
Auditor-General flags ballooning medico-legal claims
Medico-legal claims against the national Department of Health have soared to an 'unsustainable R125bn', the Auditor-General has warned, saying despite all measures taken to...
Slow process to hold medico-legal lawyers accountable for fraud
An attorney who received a R15.2m state medical negligence payout for a severely disabled child three years ago, but only deposited R50 000 of...
Discovery setback in tussle with RAF
The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has rejected Discovery Health’s leave to appeal against the judgment that the Road Accident Fund could not be compelled...
McKinsey agrees to $230m payout in opioid settlement
Consulting firm McKinsey & Co has agreed to pay $230m to resolve lawsuits by hundreds of US local governments and school districts alleging it...
Baby 'detained' in hospital bill dispute back with parents
A Kampala High Court judge reunited a four-month-old infant with his parents after a dispute involving an outstanding hospital bill, during which the facility...
Listeriosis class action suit stalls
The class action litigation between Tiger Brands and affected South Africans has stalled, with both parties still in limbo as they await documents from...
Man sues after doctors lose tumour before they can test it
A US man has launched a lawsuit after a hospital somehow mislaid the tumour they had removed from his bladder, and which had been...
UK judge to decide on ending baby’s life support
The parents of a critically ill baby girl have asked a British judge to prevent medics from ending her life support after the hospital...
Man sues hospital for $1bn after watching wife’s C-section
An Australian man has sued a hospital for $1bn for letting him watch his wife give birth by Caesarean in 2018, saying it triggered...
Lawyer linked to medico-legal fraud faces being struck off
The Legal Practice Council (LPC) is proceeding with a striking application against Zuko Nonxuba, who has been linked to multiple cases of fraud involving...
RAF non-payment in contravention of the law, says CMS
The Road Accident Fund’s (RAF) directive – that no payments be made to claimants if their medical aid scheme has already paid for medical...
Doctor in dodgy payments probe fails to get interdict against SIU
A medical doctor involved in a questionable National Lotteries Commission (NLC) deal has failed in his interdict bid to stop the Special Investigating Unit...
UK nurses ‘drugged patients for quiet shifts’, court hears
A British jury last week heard chilling texts from two nurses, sent after “drugging patients in a hospital stroke unit for amusement during shifts”,...
Nurses charged with fraud over 'fake births'
Two nurses face fraud and corruption charges for allegedly faking the birth of twins at a provincial hospital to enable a relative to pocket...
Researcher wants court to throw out J&J lawsuit over cancer findings
A medical researcher has asked a court to toss out a lawsuit that Johnson & Johnson filed against her over her 2019 study on the...
Philips coughs up $479m in apnoea device settlement
Philips Respironics, the maker of CPAP sleep apnoea machines, will pay $479m to settle some claims that its devices spewed carcinogenic foam and gas...
MEC's HPCSA hearing moved to 2024
The disciplinary hearing by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) involving Limpopo MEC for Health Dr Phophi Ramathuba has been postponed again, this...
I'm too old to stand trial, says fraud accused doctor (85)
An 85-year-old doctor, charged with issuing a fake death certificate in 2020 so a Durban man’s girlfriend could fraudulently claim R6.5m in life cover,...
Fired SAHPRA staffer linked to illegal medical cannabis licences
A former employee of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), who has continued to issue medical cannabis licences despite being fired for...
British women sue Bayer over contraceptive coil
German pharmaceutical giant Bayer has said it would defend itself “vigorously” after 200 women in the UK – who claim they were left in...
US doctors charged for anti-vax actions sue regulator
Four doctors threatened with disciplinary action by Washington’s medical regulator over spreading Covid-19 misinformation want a court to strip the state’s Medical Commission of...