HomeMedico-Legal
Medico-Legal
Competition tribunal fines pharmacy group for price gouging on face masks
A pharmacy group accused of charging excessive prices for face masks and hand sanitisers at its Nelspruit and Pretoria branches has agreed to pay...
Medical schemes regulations amended in the light of COVID-19
Regulations under the 1998 Medical Schemes Act have been amended to provide for COVID-19 screening, clinically appropriate diagnostic tests, medication, medical management (including hospitalisation...
Draft nursing regulations released for comment
Draft regulations on the scope of nursing and midwifery practice have been gazetted for comment within one month. Possibly developed in anticipation of standardising...
Act amendment allows extension of expiring prescriptions from 6 to 12 months
People with expiring prescriptions, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, are set for some relief, says a Health24 report. In what appears to...
Internationally trained doctors threaten legal action against 'obstructive' HPCSA
Unemployed medical graduates who have obtained qualifications abroad have accused the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) and the National Health Department of deliberately...
Court bid to release group in state quarantine
AfriForum has filed an urgent application in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) to secure the release of 107 people quarantined in a state facility....
UK advertising authority targets products with false medicinal claims
The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is taking action against advertisers claiming that products which are not licensed medicines could have medicinal properties, with...
KZN’s forced quarantine threat retracted but legal action to proceed
Following the threat of legal action by AfriForum, the KwaZulu-Natal government has withdrawn the threat by Premier Sihle Zikalala that people who test positive...
Criminal offence to carry out traditional circumcision this winter
Any traditional circumcision and initiation this winter season will be regarded as a criminal offence that carries a fine, a prison sentence, or both....
UK to ban under-18s from surgery to change gender
UK children who wish to undergo surgery to change their gender will be banned from doing so in future, in terms of planned new...
Med scheme regulator relaxes rules to aid membership retention
The medical schemes regulator will temporarily relax rules to allow the industry to implement measures aimed at retaining members in the face of COVID-19,...
Liberty wins Vitality tug-of-war with Discovery
The High Court has dismissed a case from insurer Discovery against rival Liberty, who it had argued was infringing on its trademarks and competing...
Competition Tribunal appeals Mediclinic's North West hospital acquisition
The Competition Tribunal has asked the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal a ruling allowing Mediclinic to acquire hospitals in the North West, Business...
EU facilitates life science companies' co-operation but regulatory threats remain
Competition law is not a barrier to life sciences businesses working together to ensure the supply of vital equipment and medicines during the coronavirus...
Doctor struck off over personal injury 'false reports factory'
A UK doctor who knocked out a medical report for personal injury claimants every 15 minutes has been struck off by the Court of...
Netherlands court rules on euthanasia for dementia patients
Doctors in the Netherlands can no longer be prosecuted for carrying out euthanasia on dementia patients who have previously given written consent. Previously, patients...
Immunity from claims urged for UK's 'crisis doctors'
The UK’s Medical Defence Union wants doctors to be given immunity from negligence claims arising from treatment delivered during the coronavirus crisis, says a...
Why has Zondo been so slow to meet Zuma's doctors?
Business Day legal writer Karyn Maughan outlines why Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo may be "thinking twice" about the invitation to a confidential meeting...
PPE costs order against Nehawu a lesson against 'spurious' claims
Carmel Rickard in her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site writes: The case brought by the National Education Health and Allied...
Judge allows UK mental health patient's discharge to free up beds
A UK High Court judge has ruled a woman can be discharged from the hospital bed she has occupied for more than a year...
Further amendment to SA healthcare sector competition exemptions
Trade, Industry & Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel has amended his 19 March COVID-19 directive exempting certain categories of healthcare sector agreements and practices from...
Zimbabwe judge rejects bid to stop COVID-19 hospital for the 'political elite'
The High Court in Zimbabwe has rejected an attempt to stop the refurbishment of an incomplete and deserted hospital and make it available for...
UK Supreme Court dismisses NHS appeal over damages payment of US surrogacy
A woman left infertile by the negligence of a hospital is entitled to recover damages to pay for surrogacy in the US, the UK...
Judge dismisses Nehawu's PPE case against Health Minister
The Labour Court on Wednesday refused to allow the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) to withdraw its urgent case over protective...
Forced quarantine of 2 Limpopo doctors causes dismay
The forcible quarantining in a Limpopo hospital of two women doctors who had been self-isolating has caused dismay, writes MedicalBrief. Health MEC Dr Phophi...
Man accused of spreading fake coronavirus news appears in court
A 55-year-old man appeared in Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, April 7, for allegedly spreading fake news about COVID-19. The Times reports that...
Retired ConCourt judge to oversee state tracking of COVID-19 patients
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola has appointed retired Constitutional Court Judge Kate O'Regan as the designate judge to oversee the tracing of those who have...
Doctor may approach Labour Court after being 'forced' to put patients at COVID-19 risk
The first labour-related case on COVID-19 may come before the Labour Court as early as next week. According to a statement on the Politicsweb...
Govt will 'name and shame' if COVID-19 patients refuse to give personal information
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has warned that the government will take decisive steps to deal with people infected with COVID-19 who refuse to provide...
Press Council appeals committee's 'landmark' ruling on science reporting
The Press Council's appeal committee has ruled in favour of GroundUp, overturning a decision by the ombudsman that the news site has to apologise...
Free State Health called out by High Court for pursuing unwinnable case
Free State Health was more than willing to admit that a woman with appendicitis was left with a chunk of infected appendix inside her...
Durban COVID-19 patients to seek court order over quarantine
Four COVID-19 positive patients, among the first group identified as carrying the virus upon their return from Italy, are demanding to be released from...
Gauteng Health obtains a second COVID-10-related order
Gauteng Health has obtained another coronavirus-related court order – this time against a church in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, reports The Times. The church has effectively...
GMC concerned about UK doctors profiting from COVID-19 fear by selling tests
The General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK has raised concerns that some doctors are “exploiting patients’ vulnerability” and are seeking to make hundreds...
Supreme Court of Appeal's split decision over surgical negligence
In a split decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal, a Port Elizabeth woman has won a 10-year negligence action over two small nicks to her bile...
SA forges ahead with Bill to end lump-sum payments for medical negligence
The SAs government is sticking to its guns to bring a law that would cut down on the spiralling medical claims, amounting to R100bn,...
Swedish nurses who refused to carry out abortions lose bid for ECHR review
Two nurses denied midwife jobs as midwives for refusing to carry out abortions have lost their legal bid to take Sweden to a top...
Family sue Mpumalanga Health over dead woman with 'good vital signs'
The family of a 76-year-old woman from Middelburg, Mpumalanga, is claiming millions of rands in damages from the Health Department after she was allegedly...
Limpopo Health sued over death of woman after giving birth to twins
A family is suing the Limpopo Health Department over the death of a woman after she gave birth at Kgapane Hospital, reports Health-e News....
US expert witness to be called when HPCSA's De Vos hearing resumes
Lawyers acting on behalf of anti-abortion medic Jacques de Vos have notified the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) of their intention to call...