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Medico-Legal
Progressive interventions needed to stem medical litigation 'explosion'
As Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi described soaring medical malpractice litigation claims in South Africa as an “explosion”, it was revealed that Gauteng Health...
J&J suffers first trial loss in talc/mesothelioma suit
Johnson & Johnson has suffered its first trial loss in a lawsuit claiming its talc-based products including Johnson’s Baby Powder contain cancer-causing asbestos, with...
Fertility doctor sued for secretly using his own sperm
A US woman is suing her parents' former fertility doctor after claiming her DNA test results showed he secretly used his own sperm to...
'Dream team' assembled for listeriosis victims' $2bn claim
A 'dream team' of world-class food safety experts is ready to act on behalf of SA's listeriosis victims and their family members, according to...
Another Life Esidimeni-type tragedy averted by Legal Aid SA
It did not make national headlines, but Legal Aid SA averted a disaster similar to the Life Esidimeni tragedy in the Eastern Cape, reports...
R17bn outstanding for medical negligence made up 'generally' of fraudulent claims — EC Health
Eastern Cape Health claims that unscrupulous lawyers are milking the province, with outstanding medical negligence claims now standing at R17bn, with much of this...
SA targets cerebral palsy claims to staunch flood of negligence actions
Cerebral palsy (CP) claims form more than half of Gauteng Health medical negligence payouts this year, says the province's legal director Mpelegeng Lebeloane, in...
Future UK nurse misconduct hearings could be behind closed doors
Nurses and midwives in the UK will rarely be subject to public misconduct hearings and could avoid any sanctions for errors if they admit...
New legal team saving Eastern Cape Health millions
A newly appointed consortium of lawyers has managed to save the Eastern Cape Health Department R45m. Provincial health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo is quoted in...
Medscheme recovers R107m in fraudulent claims
Medscheme, South Africa’s largest manager of medical schemes, has recovered over R107m claimed fraudulently and through waste or abuse and more than R300m in...
Revised guidelines for care facilities for mentally disabled
The May 2017 national guidelines for licensing and running residential and day care facilities for people with mental and/or intellectual disabilities have been revised...
NW Health 'sorry' for birth control injections without consent
The compulsory contraceptive injection of high school students has led to a public apology by North West Health. The SA Human Rights Commission is...
Gauteng Health settles for R19,2m in cerebral palsy action
A R34m negligence damages claim by Lindiwe Ngwenya over the cerebral palsy of her daughter, following her birth five years ago at the Brakpan Pholosong...
Pharma executive Shkreli sentenced to 7 years for fraud
Martin Shkreli, a former pharma executive notorious for sharply increasing drug prices has been sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of...
KZN Med School places-for-cash accused lose bid to have charges withdrawn
An application by three people accused of running a scam that traded cash for places at the University of Natal’s Nelson Mandela Medical School...
Legal challenge granted over UK NHS-Home Office patient data deal
The British High Court has granted a legal challenge against a NHS-Home Office deal to hand over patient data to immigration officials. The Independent...
Gupta-linked North West Health head on criminal charges
The North West legislature has laid criminal charges against the head of the province's Health Department, Dr Thabo Lekalakala, following a marathon interrogation over...
Durban couple plead guilty to illegal abortion clinic charges
A Durban couple has pleaded guilty in the Durban Regional Court to operating an illegal abortion clinic in Dr Pixley KaSeme (West) Street. According...
UK launches review into NHS treatment and medical device scandals
The UK’s the health and social care secretary, Jeremy Hunt has launched a nine-month review into how the National Health Service (NHS) addresses concerns...
Doctor challenges HPCSA disciplinary action over schemes that netted R22m
A doctor who allegedly ran dodgy financial schemes that cost his patients millions has approached the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) for an order preventing...
Botched cosmetic procedures lead to calls for better legislation
An 'alarming' rise in reports of botched cosmetic procedures in the UK has prompted doctors and campaigners to call for better legislation to protect...
Gilead wins hepatitis drug patent infringement case
A federal judge in Delaware in the US has overturned a jury’s verdict requiring Gilead Sciences Inc to pay a record $2.54bn because its...
KZN mother sues over baby's arm amputation
The mother of a baby who lost his arm due to alleged medical negligence at the Stanger Hospital is suing the KZN MEC of...
MS sufferer looks to CCMA to reverse Woolies suspension over 'incapacity'
Sandra Teodosio of Durban was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2013 and in 2017 suspended from her job at Woolworths and charged with incapacity,...
HPCSA 'must investigate' doctors who backed Schabir Shaik's medical parole
Fresh calls have been made to review Schabir Shaik’s health and medical parole conditions as it enters its ninth year, says a Sunday Tribune...
UK medical negligence pay-outs reach 'unsustainable' levels
Pay-outs given to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) patients who have been victims of negligence should be reduced because they are “unsustainable”, The...
Japanese government sued for forcible sterilisation in 1970s
A Japanese woman who was forcibly sterilised in the 1970s at the age of 15 is suing the government in the first case of...
Judgment legalising dagga creates a minefield in the workplace
South Africa seems to be following the trend in the US to legalise cannabis. Last year, Judge Dennis Davis ruled in a full bench...
SA court rules in favour of 'posthumous conception'
Judge Judith Cloete ruled in the High Court in Cape Town that a 36-year-old woman could use her late husband’s frozen sperm for a...
UK striking from medical register 'threatens learning from medical error'
More than 1,500 UK doctors have signed a letter expressing 'deep-seated concerns' at junior doctor Hadiza Bawa-Garba being struck off the medical register following...
Australian former chiropractor fined for 'quackery'
A part-time cabbie has been handed a A$12,000 fine after pleading guilty to six charges of claiming to be a health practitioner in Australia....
Enforced psychiatric treatment for vulnerable people is wrong – UK Law Society
Vulnerable people sectioned under the UK’s Mental Health Act are being subjected to medical treatment without consent and are not protected by effective legal...
Is a 'union style' medical indemnity cover the answer?
A number of SA medical professionals do not have medical indemnity cover due to the rising costs of insurance premiums. Norton Rose Fulbright's Natasha...
KZN Health lambasted for lack of care and 'reckless' litigation
KwaZulu-Natal's Health Department has received a judicial tongue-lashing, first for an 'astounding' lack of care given to a mom who gave birth to a brain-damaged...
Compensation Fund accused of thwarting doctor fraud case
The Labour Department’s Compensation Fund is being accused of allegedly frustrating a R12.1m fraud case against a doctor in North West by failing to...
Limpopo Health's defence of 'financial constraints' rejected
A Limpopo man who was left with a "second-hand ankle" after first being assaulted by police and then neglected at various provincial hospitals must...
Durban dentist charged with culpable homicide
A Durban dentist has been arrested following the death of a Canadian man at an unlicensed facility for treating drug addiction.
In early November, a...
UK doctor jailed for false medical claims must pay back or face extra prison
A UK doctor jailed for invoicing false personal injury medical costs has now been told he must pay back the money he made. According...
Bogus doctors promising 'voluptuous hips' arrested in Limpopo
Two alleged illegal immigrants have been arrested in Limpopo as bogus healers, having promised patients everything from bigger penises to more voluptuous hips. The...
Judge rules for mediation in brain damaged toddler's life support treatment
A hospital in the UK has prevented parents from sending their brain damaged toddler to the same Vatican doctors who offered to help in...