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Medico-Legal
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...
Precedent-setting UK ruling extends legal duty of care to associated third parties
A UK High Court has ruled that doctors treating individuals with serious ailments owe a legal duty of care not just to their patients...
'Informed consent' by children for gender transition to be tested
A 23-year-old woman who is taking legal action against a UK National Health Service (NHS) gender clinic says she should have been challenged more...
Budget: Mboweni joins the chorus warning against rising claims
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has warned against the rising medical claims against the state with the bill now sitting at almost R100bn. Mboweni said...
High Court summons over delayed medical negligence cases
Eastern Cape Health's superintendent-general was summonsed to appear before the Bisho High Court to explain delays in two medical negligence cases involving babies born...
J&J: Australia court awards damages for faulty pelvic mesh implants
The Federal Court in Australia has ordered pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to pay almost $2.6m in damages to three women implanted with faulty...
Germany overturns ban on commercially assisted suicide
A five-year-old law banning professionally assisted suicide has been rejected as unconstitutional by Germany's top court. According to a BBC News report, the Constitutional...
California in $1.6bn settlement with generic opiates group MNK
California attorney-general Xavier Becerra has announced a settlement agreement between state attorney-generals, local subdivisions and Mallinckrodt (MNK), its subsidiaries and certain other affiliates.
A...
Commission's report implicates the State in forced sterilisation of HIV+ women
A report by the Gender Equality Commission implicates the State in forced sterilisation of HIV positive women, writes MedicalBrief. The Health Professions Council...
Discovery says CMS ruling doesn't change its PMB policy
Discovery Health has responded to a Council for Medical Schemes' ruling that Discovery must fund an alternative surgical treatment for glaucoma, which Discovery had...
Doctor and parents charged over fatal FGM case in Egypt
A retired doctor and the parents of a 12-year-old girl who died after female genital mutilation (FGM) surgery are to stand trial in Egypt,...
Concourt rejects HPCSA appeal over Wouter Basson
The Health Professions Council (HPCSA) has suffered yet another defeat against apartheid-era defence force medic, Dr Wouter Basson – this time in the Constitutional...
Gauteng Health MEC blames 'unscrupulous' lawyers for R310m in bank attachments
The staggering R310m that was attached in Gauteng Health’s bank accounts on behalf of medical negligence claimants was led by "unscrupulous lawyers and non-compliant...
Tiger says courts not NEJM will determine listeriosis outbreak liability
Tiger Brands has declined to respond in detail to an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine indicating that the source of...
Another Spire Healthcare doctor accused of unnecessary operations
A doctor who worked at the same UK private healthcare firm as the rogue breast surgeon Ian Paterson has been accused of subjecting scores...
CMS’ precedent setting ruling against Discovery's 'irrational decision-making'
In "a scathing and precedent-setting ruling" against Discovery Health Medical Scheme, the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) may open the door to force schemes...
SANDF backs off from Zuma sick note investigation
Former President Jacob Zuma’s questionable medical certificate raised sufficient concern within the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to prompt the possibility of an investigation...
IVF mis-selling concerns brings fertility treatment guidelines for UK consumers
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says it has concerns about possible cases of mis-selling of services such as IVF “add-on” treatments, and...
Family of 'Maggots in mouth' patient sues KZN Health
The family of Sadek Ebrahim, who died shortly after a video of maggots in his mouth went viral last year, are suing the KwaZulu-Natal...
GP gets three life sentences for 90 'defensive medicine' sexual assaults
A GP in the UK has been given three life sentences for 90 sexual assaults on female patients, reports BBC News. Manish Shah assaulted...