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Medico-Legal
Doctors who failed to report poor maternity care may be struck off — GMC
Doctors in the UK who saw but did not report babies and mothers receiving poor care during the National Health Service's worst maternity scandal...
Negligence complainant entitled to full compensation rules UK Supreme Court
The UK Supreme Court has ruled that a professional negligence claim should not lose its worth because the case was retrospectively downgraded in value....
Transplant surgeon failed to disclose organ contamination
A transplant patient died after a surgeon failed to disclose he had spilt stomach contents on organs which went on to be used in...
Aussie women in landmark class action victory
Hundreds of Australian women left in excruciating pain by faulty transvaginal mesh devices have won a landmark case against multinational giant Johnson & Johnson....
Eastern Cape litigation unit to target R29bn in claims
The Eastern Cape provincial government has set aside R3.2m to establish a litigation unit within Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s office in a move it hopes...
Psychologist struck off over testing is reinstated
An psychologist, who was struck off the roll for allowing unqualified people to administer psychometric tests to thousands of children, has been reinstated following...
High Court challenge over parents' right to bury foetus
Parents who lose their unborn child before 26 weeks of gestation should have the choice to bury the remains and government has no right...
Traditional leaders want specialised courts for circumcision deaths
In 2016, the Customary Male Initiation Practice Act was enacted to reduce initiation deaths, with little effect. Now traditional leaders want the act to...
SIU issues summonses to Life Esidimeni NGOs
The Special Investigating Unit's (SIU) Special Tribunal has issued summonses to 13 non-profit organisations implicated in unjustified enrichment emanating from the Life Esidimeni scandal.
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'Fraudulent' medico-legal claims hobble Eastern Cape Health
Eastern Cape Health is facing more than R20bn in medico-legal claims. City Press reports that this was according to Sizwe Kupelo, provincial health spokesperson,...
NHS sued over not revealing Huntington's disease diagnosis
A woman is suing a London NHS trust for not revealing her father had been diagnosed with Huntington's disease before she had her own...
Lawyers to test constitutionality of limiting right to treatment
Lawyers are to appeal a Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) judgment upholding a decision by Helen Joseph Hospital to discontinue life-saving dialysis treatment for an...
HPCSA probes 'magnitude' of negligence claims against paediatric surgeon
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has launched an investigation into paediatric surgeon, Dr Peter Beale, who has been accused of medical...
US Health department sues Gilead Sciences over Truvada patent rights
It's set to be intellectual property rights battle of the century, writes MedicalBrief. The US government is suing Gilead Sciences over the patent rights...
Special directorate will examine every KZN medical negligence claim
Officials from KZN Health, which faces about R20bn in negligence claims against a total annual budget of R45bn, have briefed the Health Portfolio Committee...
Courts should not be used by 'predatory' lawyers — Ramaphosa
<strong>SA</strong>’s "already burdened" courts should not be used by "predatory law firms" to fight medical-negligence battles and putting "immense pressure" on provincial and national...
Court opens malpractice door on services/pay-as-you-go
A recent judgment involving Gauteng Health opens the door "a bit further" to the compensation ordered in medical malpractice claims to be in the...
Motsoaledi and Magashule named in CityMed 'hit' case
A senior former Free State Health official claims that former Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule were bribed to facilitate the...
Nehawu unhappy over dismissal of assaulted nurse
The healthcare union has appealed the dismissal for "gross dishonesty" of a nurse who claimed that she had been assaulted by her manager at...
Durban hospital’s R4m claim over post-discharge death
A Durban hospital is on the hook for a R4m damages claim after an ill patient who was allegedly prematurely discharged – and with...
Blood Service whistle-blower victimisation complaint falls
The company secretary of the SA National Blood Service headquarters in Roodepoort, has lost a Labour Court (Johannesburg) bid for...
LHR crowdfunds for refugee denied dialysis
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has started an urgent three-day fundraising campaign for Alem Bazabe Ereselo, an Ethiopian asylum seeker who is being denied...
Judge stays Trump health insurance visa guarantee
A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, has put on hold a Trump administration rule requiring immigrants to prove they will have health insurance or...
Anti-abortion doctor's hearing adjourned as committee ponders charges
The disciplinary hearing of anti-abortion doctor Jacques de Vos by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has been adjourned until 9 December. According...
Family want surgeon and anaesthetist suspended pending inquiry
The family of 10-year-old Zayyaan Sayed, who died shortly after surgery, plans to lay criminal charges against paediatric surgeon Dr Peter Beale and anaesthetist...
Portuguese obstetrician suspended after baby born without a face
A Portuguese obstetrician has been suspended after a baby was born without a nose, eyes or part of his skull, reports BBC News. The...
Kenyan doctor calls for decriminalisation of FGM
A female doctor in Kenya wants female genital mutilation (FGM) to be decriminalised. Tatu Kamau is asking the courts to allow women above the...
MRC slams newspaper over 'victimisation' damages claim before Labour Court
A Weekend Argus report claiming that the SA Medical Research Council (MRC) was before the Labour Court, following allegations of "victimisation, intimidation and...
Court denies asylum seeker's medical care request in important test case
An urgent application brought by an Ethiopian asylum seeker who wanted to force a Johannesburg hospital to give her medical care has been dismissed,...
Surgeon's and anaesthetist's privileges withdrawn by following child's death
A Johannesburg paediatrician — already under peer review by Netcare, having earlier been suspended by Mediclinic and fined by the Health Professions Council for...
SAHRC denies Gauteng Health claim of settlement with shackled pensioner
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in Gauteng has denied claims by the Gauteng Health that a settlement was reached with the family...
Four US companies reach deal in opioid crisis law suit
Four drugs companies have reached a $260m deal with two Ohio counties over their role in fuelling the US opioid crisis, reports BBC News....
Being a doctor is a mug’s game in SA
Inconsistently applied and poorly managed disciplinary proceedings are putting strain on South Africa’s doctors, argues columnist William Saunderson-Meyer on Politicsweb. The also have to...
UKZN challenged to release Med School investigation information
Durban businessman Visham Panday has turned to the city's High Court to compel the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) to release information about its multi-million-rand...
Zimbabwe doctors ignore court ruling to return to work
Government-employed doctors have ignored a Labour Court ultimatum to return to work, saying they remain incapacitated by poor wages and inadequate health facilities. According...
HPCSA vs anti-abortion doctor: Defence wants charges dropped
Anti-abortionist Dr Jaques de Vos’s medical career has been stalled for more than two years because of a repeatedly delayed disciplinary action by the...
Ministers claim courts used to thwart private healthcare oversight
The ministers of Health and Economic Development hit back at Health Market Inquiry findings blaming the government for “inadequate stewardship” of the private sector...
Genesis will pay — for now — in dispute over rehab as a PMB
The Genesis Medical Scheme has agreed to authorise and pay the rehabilitation costs of burn survivor Kelvin van Baalen pending the outcome of a...
$8bn punitive damages award for man's enlarged breasts
US drug firm Johnson & Johnson has been told to pay $8bn in punitive damages to a man over claims he was not warned...
US judge rules in favour of supervised injection sites
A US federal judge has ruled that a non-profit group’s bid to open a site in Philadelphia where people can inject drugs under medical...