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Medico-Legal
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...
Egyptian doctor accused of FGM released on bail
An Egyptian court has released on bail a doctor who was detained for performing a genital cutting procedure on a 12-year-old girl who bled...
EC Health to pay R11m over teen's hand amputation
The Eastern Cape government is paying R11.1m for a bionic arm for a 13-year-old Kwelera girl whose left hand was amputated in 2012 due...
Suit filed against disgraced pharma CEO over Daraprim pricing
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the state of New York have filed suit against disgraced pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli and Vyera Pharmaceuticals...
German nurse accused of poisoning premature babies
German police and prosecutors are questioning a nurse accused of poisoning five premature babies with morphine at a hospital, reports CNN. Five premature babies...
Culture of 'avoidance and denial' facilitated unnecessary operations – inquiry
A British breast surgeon who operated needlessly on patients continued unchecked due to a culture of “avoidance and denial” in the institutions that should...
When a sick note leads to an arrest warrant
The Pietermaritzburg High Court this week issued a stayed arrest warrant for former president Jacob Zuma, after rejecting a One Military Hospital “sick note” as inadequate, because of...
State medical negligence claims and payouts almost quadruple over four years
Claims for medical negligence against the state have almost quadrupled over the past four years, rising to R104.5bn in 2018/19 from R28.6bn in 2014/15,...
Generic medicine pay-for-delay deals 'risk breaching EU law'
Pharmaceutical patent holders that enter into “pay-for-delay” agreements with generic medicine manufacturers risk breaching EU competition law on three counts, an advocate-general to the...
NHS hospital trust under investigation over baby deaths
England's care watchdog has carried out a no-notice inspection of an National Health Service (NHS) trust at the centre of concerns over the possible...
'Landmark' UK case on puberty blockers yet to reach the High Court
This week, multiple national UK media outlets reported that a case against the National Health Service (NHS) prescribing puberty blockers to trans teens had...
'Belated' circulation to Parliament of NHI district pilot evaluation report
The 2019 NHI district pilot evaluation report was circulated somewhat belatedly last week to Parliament as an addendum to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s written...
7 African countries sign agreement criminalising fake medicine
African leaders have pledged to introduce tough criminal legislation to combat the proliferation of substandard and fake medical products – a deadly business that...
Italian appeal court rules prolonged phone use can cause head tumours
An Italian court has ruled that prolonged use of mobile phones can cause head tumours, despite scientists overwhelmingly agreeing there is no evidence to...
Doctor not culpable in baby's head decapitation case
A post-mortem examination has revealed that the doctor implicated for decapitating a baby during delivery at the Windhoek Central Hospital did not act in...
HIV self-testing guidance gazetted to address miners' aversion
According to government statistics, less than less than two-thirds of nearly 330,000 mining employees “counselled for HIV” agreed to be tested, leading to an...
Landmark UK banning of e-cigarettes on Instagram
British American Tobacco (BAT) and three other e-cigarette firms have been banned by the UK advertising watchdog from promoting their vaping products on public...
UK won't join France and Australia in banning breast implants linked to cancer
At least 61 women in the UK have been diagnosed with a potentially fatal cancer linked to breast implants, but the type they received...
Petition to drop 'premature' criminal charges against Beale and Munshi
Almost 50,000 people have signed a petition for authorities to drop the criminal case against paediatric surgeon Professor Peter Beale and anaesthetist Dr Abdulhay...
Gauteng Health settles with family of woman tied to bench
Gauteng Health has reached an undisclosed settlement with Martha Marais' family after she was tied to a bench in the waiting area of Mamelodi...
Doctor who hid his link to law firm banned from practice
A doctor who diagnosed hundreds of personal injury cases for a UK law firm where his wife was a partner has been banned from...
UK report: Dozens of babies died in maternity scandal
Dozens of babies and three mothers died at hospitals in England over four decades because of major staff failings, in what experts said could...