Nigeria – 20th December, 2016: The National Healthcare Act 2014 sought to bring universal healthcare to Nigeria and reduce outbound tourism. It has been two years since former President Goodluck Jonathan signed the bill into law in December 2014. Unfortunately, the Act has been missing in action since then, say Nigerian doctors. It has passed into law but not implemented.

Kampala, Uganda – 5th December, 2016: A city hospital, Case Medical Centre, has been sued for alleged professional negligence leading to death of Francis Kobusheshe, former Chief Magistrate of Kiboga and Hoima districts in December 2015.

Kobusheshe was declared dead on December 29, 2015, nine days after admission at Case Medical Centre.

South Africa – 14th December, 2016: The Inkatha Freedom Party demands that there must be a separation of medication and other products which are not for human consumption in hospitals after a patient at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital was given a shampoo used to relieve itching, scaling, dryness and flaking of the skin instead of medication for constipation.

Nantong – 18th December, 2016: A man has been sentenced to 22 months in jail for attacking a doctor at a hospital in Nantong. His friend was jailed for 16 months for stopping other people from helping the doctor and filming the attack on his mobile phone.

New York, US – 5th December, 2016: A Nebraska magistrate judge on Friday signed off on an agreement resolving a widower’s wrongful death suit contending that Safeway Inc. pharmacists negligently dispensed methadone and another medication to his now-dead wife even though using the drugs together is risky, ultimately leading to her death. 
U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas D. Thalken granted a stipulation of dismissal in Brian Crawford’s litigation alleging that Safeway is liable for his wife’s death because its pharmacists gave her both methadone, an opioid, and fluconazole, which is used to treat fungal infections, despite the fact that the medications are contraindicated for simultaneous use.

 

UK – 16th December, 2016: A woman in her sixties, known as N, has settled a claim in medical negligence against a UK NHS Trust for a significant sum. N was left with a permanent colostomy by a surgeon who failed to take sufficient care while operating on her bowel.

California, US – 9th December, 2016: A woman is suing Penelope Velasco, M.D.; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; and Does 1 through 200, doctor and government agency, citing alleged insufficient measures were taken to prevent injuries and negligence.

UK – 9th December, 2016: A pensioner who was worried she had been branded a 'hypochondriac' died from cancer after failures by her GP meant she wasn't diagnosed until it was too late. 

Mary Morley, 82, spent more than a year going back to her doctor with various symptoms, each time being sent home with nothing more than painkillers. Eventually, after 15 months and a change in GP, she was referred to hospital for further testing where specialists found she had an advanced form of womb cancer.

Yorkshire, UK – 9th December, 2016: A great-grandmother found out she had skin cancer on Christmas Eve – after doctors twice misread test results and told her she was cancer-free.

Mum-of-three Joyce Huck, 72, first discovered a suspicious growth the size of a 5p piece back in February 2013 – but after getting it removed doctors told her two biopsies had revealed it was benign.

UK – 11th December, 2016: A furious mum is suing a hospital for handing her new-born to a STRANGER to be breastfed. Bungling medical staff mixed up the two-day-old tot with a different baby before it was nursed by another woman.