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Medico-Legal
Bayer takes more legal hits over weedkiller products linked to illnesses
Bayer, which acquired Monsanto last year, has had a another US court setback over its Roundup weed killer, while in France a decade-long legal...
Publicly identifying someone as living with HIV/Aids can still incur damages
Despite the de-stigmatising of HIV/Aids, publicly to identify a person as living with the conditional can still incur damages for "emotional and psychological distress",...
HPCSA finding placing PE heart surgeon under supervision is set aside
A finding by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) that a Port Elizabeth heart surgeon should be allowed to work only under supervision...
Health Dept must pay after botched circumcision leaves man 'stressed'
South Africa’s Health Department has to pay a Kosi Bay man more than R500,000 after a botched circumcision left him emotionally and psychologically stressed....
Women sue hospital over hidden cameras in gynae operating theatres
More than 80 women recently filed a lawsuit against Sharp Grossmont Hospital in San Diego, California when they discovered they “were secretly recorded by...
'Common sense' judgment by SCA on settlement agreements
This month's judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal that settlement agreements of a medico-legal damages claim would not fall within the ambit of the National...
Generalists who stretch the HPCSA definition of being a specialist
The law is clear on when you can call yourself a specialist. It's not about being highly experienced or working only in a specialises...
Psychiatrist guilty of unprofessional conduct for using outdated diagnostic scale
A Johannesburg child psychiatrist who has written a book about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been fined R40,000 by the Health Professionals Council of...
SCA dismisses patient's appeal over informed consent
A North West surgeon has been vindicated by a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling, which dismissed a patient’s legal challenge that he did...
HPCSA's 'comedy of errors' in disciplinary pursuit of Dr Death
In another victory for cardiologist Dr Wouter Basson, head of the apartheid government’s chemical and biological warfare project and dubbed Dr Death by the...
Application for disciplinary proceedings against hospital owner dismissed
An application against the medical doctor owner of a KwaZulu-Natal hospital and seven others, as well as against the Health Professions Council of SA,...
Former KZN Health spokesperson in court for qualifications fraud
Former KwaZulu-Natal Health spokesperson Leon Abednigo Mbangwa is expected to appear in the Durban Specialised Commercial Court again on charges of qualifications fraud, reports...
UKZN gets court order to silence corrupt investigation claims
The University of Kwazulu-Natal has turned to the court to silence claims that those investigating the sale of places at its medical school were...
Western Cape Health wants 'judicial guidance’ on select committee powers
Western Cape Health has asked the Cape Town High Court to clarify the power of the National Council of Provinces select committee on petitions,...
Application to halt HPCSA ban on diagnostic radiographers doing ultrasounds
The Radiological Society of South Africa has asked the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, to halt a decision that diagnostic radiographers registered after 1...
KZN wants oncology maintenance contract set aside and R9m repayment
KwaZulu-Natal Health wants set aside an 'illegal' contract with a company to repair and maintain its oncology machines, as well as repayment of R9m.
The...
Gauteng Health sued over 'get up and walk' man's spinal injuries
Gauteng Health is facing a multimillion-rand damages claim after doctors told a car accident victim home to 'get up and walk home', not realising...
Legal challenge to UK's 10-year limit on egg freezing
A woman who is fighting for her chance to start a family is bringing the first legal challenge in the UK against fertility legislation...
Health system corruption an 'ignored pandemic’ — Transparency International
International donors are being urged to be more transparent about how corruption affects their aid programmes as a new report estimates that practices such...
Attorney accused of 'shenanigans' may appear in medico-legal claim
An attempt by the state to exclude attorney Zuko Noxuba from acting in a medico-claim because he was arrested earlier this year for allegedly...
Family sues over infant whose body went missing from KZN mortuary
The body of seven-month-old Sikhosana Mosemene went missing from a government mortuary in Pinetown a year ago and has still not been found. Now,...
'Gross failures to follow protocols' behind two-year old's death from sepsis
A two-year-old girl died from sepsis because of major failings in the way she was cared for by medics, an inquest in the UK...
Californian jury awards $29m in Johnson & Johnson talc/cancer case
A California jury awarded $29m to a woman who said that asbestos in Johnson & Johnson’s talcum-powder-based products caused her cancer. Reuters Health reports...
Weed killer was substantial factor in plaintiff's cancer — jury
A jury in federal court in San Francisco has concluded that Roundup weed killer was a substantial factor in a California man's cancer, reports...
Non-disclosure: Doctors should not attack medical schemes for acting
Deception by patients of medical schemes through the non-disclosure of health information is sharply on the increase, writes Elmarie Jensen, marketing manager of Genesis...
Court rules for PMB obstetrician over R14m claim for non-sterilisation
Relying on his clinical notes and the absence of a signed consent form, the Pietermaritzburg High Court has rejected a R14m claim against Dr...
Women ponder litigation over Allergan breast implants link to rare cancer
More than 200 women are considering legal action over the controversial Allergan breast implants which have been linked to a rare form of cancer....
Provision for medico-legal exposure 'lacking in NHI draft'
National Health Insurance is the proposed funding model for universal health care. However, writes Donald Dinnie of Natmed Medical Defence in a Daily Maverick...
Appeal Court rejects Kenyan doctors’ claims of ‘intellectual slave labour’ to white researchers
Claims by a group of Kenyan doctors against ‘apartheid-style’discrimination by the Kenya Medical Research Institute have been rejected by the country’s Court of Appeal,...
Doctor sidesteps HPCSA but still has R22m headache
A Gauteng doctor implicated in a R22m fraud case involving patients has secured a legal victory against the Health Professions Council of SA by...
EC Health racks up billions in medico-legal claims
It’s R23bn and counting – City Press reports that that is the amount in medico-legal claims the Eastern Cape faces, has racked up in...
Sama backs Caster against the IAAF on hormone manipulation
The SA Medical Association (Sama) has thrown its support behind athletics star Caster Semenya, saying that the proposed requirement for hormonal manipulation in athletes...
Transgender researcher's case of rejected research quashed
A UK psychotherapist who wanted to research reverse gender reassignment has claimed that he had his academic proposal rejected because his university was scared...
A culture of intimidation is thriving in the NHS
Hundreds of doctors in the UK have been accused of bullying and sexually harassing colleagues in the past five years, prompting concern that a...
Private hospital agrees to 'alternative treatment' of sickle cell anaemia
A 10-year-old KwaZulu-Natal girl's latest bout of illness may have strengthened her Jehovah's Witness parents' court battle against receiving blood transfusions. The Times reports...
Claim against gynaecologist for tubal ligation billed but not performed
A KwaZulu-Natal gynaecologist is being sued for damages after a couple conceived after a requested tubal ligation was not performed, although the doctor billed...
J&J receives subpoenas related to asbestos contamination litigation
Johnson & Johnson has announced that it has received subpoenas from the US Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related to...
CMS coy on why it prematurely terminated probe into Bonitas
New questions have been raised by Business Day about the Council for Medical Schemes' decision in 2018 inexplicably to terminate a two-year investigation into allegations of trustee...
Limpopo must rehire dentists who are on study contracts
The Public Servants Association has welcomed the judgment by the Limpopo High Court which has ordered the Limpopo Health Department to re-employ seven dentists....
Eastern Cape Health hostage to ‘brutal thuggery’ of unions — Judge
A Labour Court judge says Eastern Cape Health appears to be held hostage by a concentrated union campaign of "violence and intimidation" at its Fort...