Legal Articles and Guides

A Durban-based private hospital group is in a legal war with 13 medical aid schemes that it claims are refusing to pay R27m it is owed for hundreds of ‘pre-authorised’ hospital visits, which, if not resolved could result in patients being sued for the money, notes a Business Day report.

A Gauteng doctor implicated in a R22m fraud case involving patients has secured a minor legal victory against the Health Professions Council (HPCSA) by arguing it did not have jurisdiction to find him guilty of professional misconduct, says a Times Select report.

Most medical schemes signed an industry charter on Friday to combat ‘fraud, waste and abuse’ in the private health sector said to total as much as R30bn a year, but the country’s doctors, hospitals and other service providers declined to sign.

The National Health Department has moved to distance itself from an 'unconstitutional' instruction that state hospitals should turn away foreigners unless they pay in full. The circular, which the department has blamed on a junior official, will be withdrawn today, allegedly as a result of questions posed by the Sunday Times and provincial health officials in the Western Cape.

An unplanned pregnancy and birth could cost a local gynaecologist close to R3m, says a Weekend Witness report. Dr Kesavan Dhavaraj is being sued for this amount by Celestie Row and her husband, Wellington, after she conceived a baby believing her gynaecologist had performed the tubal ligation she had requested.

The KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) has granted a temporary order in favour of a youth care facility, ordering the provincial Department of Social Development to return 197 children who were removed from its premises. The KZN Christian Social Services, the subject of an investigation into racism and physical abuse allegations, turned to the courts after department officials, accompanied by police, last week removed the children from the facility's Morester Children's Home in Ladysmith, Morester Children's Home in Newcastle and Home Meah in Newcastle, reports TimesLIVE.

While the High Court conceded that a rapist was intelligent, in its sentencing it showed it did not think his defence was particularly clever. A TimesLIVE report says HIV-positive Selwyn van Rooyen (44) argued that it was not ‘the worst kind of rape’ because his victim did not contract HIV.

As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, a doctor who informed his patient via an SMS to the wrong number that he had malaria and should get urgent treatment was held 100% liable for claims he may face from his patient's widow by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria). According to Rapport, paramedic Tony Boucher worked in Liberia during the deadly Ebola epidemic in 2015.

A humble tin shack in the shadow of a luxury new golf estate in the Eastern Cape will have to be demolished after a court ruled in December that the family must vacate the land. A Times Select report says the ruling leaves the Mnyaka family in Chintsa West, outside East London, until the end of February to not only break down the shack they have called home for decades, but also to exhume the remains of eight relatives buried there.

A Cape Town woman stands accused of abusing a baby in her care and stealing items from the family's household, the Wynberg Magistrate's Court heard yesterday. Paseka Mthitshana is out on R1 000 bail. Prosecutor Nicky Konisi said a consultation with the baby boy's mother was still outstanding, notes News24.

Vosloorus mother Edith Nombulelo has claimed R23m from a private hospital after her son was born in June 2005 with severe brain damage. A Pretoria News report says the brain damage resulted in cerebral palsy, allegedly caused by the delay in assisting her when the foetus was in distress.

Former Middelburg, Mpumalanga, maternity sister Mirri Bridger (53) has sued the Life Healthcare Group for R2m for alleged incorrect treatment and the wrong medication following an acute asthma attack in 2009. A Pretoria News report says Bridger approached the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), saying she could no longer work after she was rendered disabled.

The murder trial of Sean Davison, who founded the 'right to die' organisation DignitySA, was postponed to 29 April after he made a brief appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court yesterday. Magistrate Greg Jacobs granted the postponement to allow for Davison to consult his lawyer, and his bail of R20 000 was extended.

Medical negligence claims against the state are rising at a ‘near exponential’ rate, leaving provincial health departments with an R80.4bn headache that is putting services at risk, according to data revealed in a detailed Business Day report. It says nine provincial health departments saw their medico-legal contingent liabilities increase by 33% year-on-year in 2017-18, to reach a level almost triple that of the 2014-15 financial year.

It has taken some 15 years for former journalist Bonisile Ndaliso to get justice after doctors at the Frere Hospital left a piece of metal in his knee after an operation. The Eastern Cape High Court (East London) has found the Department of Health liable for the damages Ndaliso suffered.