China – 30th December, 2019: China's top legislature on Saturday passed a law on medical staff safety in a move which appeared to be a timely announcement after the brutal slaying of a Beijing emergency room doctor by a patient's son on Tuesday.

China – 29th December, 2019: The Chinese government has introduced a law designed to prevent violence against doctors. The announcement came after a woman was stabbed to death in a hospital in Beijing, China.

Malaysia – 27th December, 2019: In June of 2015, a 35-year-old Malaysian business consultant named Nur Muhammad Tajrid Zahalan suffered what happens to far too many people, acute pain in his mid-back region. Today, he is a quadriplegic who believes that layer upon layer of Malaysia’s medical fraternity has abandoned him and left him to rebuild his life through his own devices.

Florida, US – 25th December, 2019: In 1999 a landmark report called “To Err Is Human” estimated that almost 100,000 patients in the United States died annually because of preventable medical errors. Subsequent studies cited much higher figures, from 250,000 to 440,000 such deaths every year.

East London, UK – 19th December, 2019: Yvonne Hewitt, of Woodford Green, 54, underwent surgery in December 2016 to fix her ureter, which was damaged in a previous operation, but was given a dose of lidocaine and had two heart attacks.

Namibia – 19th December, 2019: Two women have accused the ministry of health of medical negligence during separate procedures that have left them scarred for life.

Weston, US – 18th December, 2019: The 67-year-old, who does not want to be named, received the sum for medical negligence after complaining of symptoms including diarrhoea and bleeding for several months.

Ellsworth, US – 17th December, 2019: A Penobscot County jury last week ordered Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center and Dr. Rafael Grossman to pay a Stonington man nearly $850,000 as compensation for a medical error during a hernia surgery.

Malaga, Spain – 16th December, 2019: A patient has been charged with attacking a public authority after grabbing a doctor by the feet and throwing them in a health centre in Malaga city. The events took place at around 1pm on Thursday, December 12, when the patient began shouting at reception and threw ornaments from the centre’s Christmas tree.