The plaintiffs contended that a woman named Nanteza Irene was brought to the Nakaseke Hospital to deliver a child. She had an obstructed labour and did not receive appropriate medical care due to unavailability of the duty doctor (DW4). The plaintiffs sought damages on account of negligent conduct of the hospital in respect of a …Read more

A 13-year-old girl was abducted and raped by Aberew Jemma Negussie (accused) and his accomplices. The medical report proved non-consensual sexual intercourse. The accused was released on bail and he abducted the girl again and forced her to sign a marriage contract. The girl managed to escape. The accused was sentenced to 10 years of …Read more

The complainants were human rights activists who were arrested, tortured and ill-treated by the Intelligence Services of Sudan. They were also compelled to leave Sudan. Mr. Suliman’s human rights organization was further shut down by the Sudanese Authorities. During the interrogation, the authorities threatened to kill and rape Mr. Hummeida. He was further denied medical …Read more

The applicants, two prisoners with HIV and an interested non-governmental organization, complain that the policy of denying Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (“HAART”) to non-citizen inmates is a violation of the rights of such non-citizen prisoners under the Constitution of Botswana. HAART is a drug treatment that helps control HIV mutation and reduces the likelihood of …Read more

Three Namibian women who were all pregnant and HIV-positive were sterilized at State hospitals after giving birth. The women claimed they were sterilized without their informed consent, and that they were sterilized due to their HIV-positive status. The first woman said that her doctor (through her nurse) told her that all HIV-positive women must have …Read more

Appellant Rosemary Namubiru was charged with and convicted of committing a negligent act likely to spread infection of disease, contrary to Section 171 of Uganda’s Penal Code Act. Appellant worked as a nurse at Victoria Clinic, a public hospital in Kampala. On 7 January 2013, appellant began intravenous administration of antibiotics to two-year-old Mathew Mushabe. …Read more

Baby A, was born with both male and female genitalia. The respondent, Kenyatta National Hospital issued E.A (the mother of Baby A) documents used in the process of carrying out genitogram tests, x-rays and scans of the Baby A in which the column indicating the child’s sex was filled in with a question mark. Baby …Read more

The mother of the applicant, who was born in 2008 with Down Syndrome instituted a claim on his behalf for damages against the Fetal Assessment Centre. Her son was born in 2008 with Down syndrome. She claimed that the Centre negligently failed to warn her of the high risk that her child would be born …Read more

The plaintiff underwent a regular hysterectomy for fibroid uterus at Dora Nginza Hospital. A week later, she was readmitted as she was suffering from unbearable pain and wound abscess. The abscess burst, as operation was not conducted on the scheduled date. She was again admitted to the hospital as she complained of a hard swelling …Read more

The plaintiff alleged that the defendant was negligent in causing burn wounds during a thyroid lobectomy operation. She stated that she was not explained the possible complications of the operation. After the effect of Anaesthesia wore off, she complained of severe back pain but was not attended to immediately.

Netcare approached the High Court in order to protect its confidential information from being disclosed by KPMG to the Competition Commission. The Commission had launched a market inquiry into the private health sector and had employed KPMG as a consultant for this purpose. Netcare alleged that KPMG had a conflict of interest because it was …Read more

The appellant was found guilty of rape of a two-year-old girl by the Malamulele regional court under section 11(2) of the criminal procedure Act based on his guilty plea and statement. He was subsequently sentenced on 05 September 2013 to 5 (five) years’ imprisonment, 2 (two) years of which are suspended for 5 (five) years …Read more

The respondents, three Namibian HIV positive pregnant women, were sterilized while undergoing emergency caesareans. The respondents each signed a consent form, which included consent to the caesarean operation and sterilization through bilateral tubal ligation (BLT) but claimed that they did not provide informed consent which is required for sterilization to be considered lawful. The first …Read more

Petitioner, an elderly retired person, was diagnosed with diabetes and Benign Hypertrophy (a life-threatening terminal disease). Petitioner claimed that that the cost of the medication was prohibitive and that he was in need of urgent medical attention. Petitioner sought assistance of the court to enforce his fundamental rights to the highest attainable standard of health …Read more

Appellants were appealing the denial of bail after being charged with armed robbery using firearms, attempted murder and violating a drug law. The first appellant contended that he suffered from pneumonia and frequent sinus problems that required high levels of ventilation and protection from colds, which would not be provided when in custody. Both appellants …Read more

As the administrator of the deceased’s estate, the plaintiff sought the medical records of the deceased from the defendant hospital. The plaintiff had separately filed a medical negligence suit against the defendant. The plaintiff and his counsel determined that the hospital records, which related to the deceased’s treatment before death, were necessary for the negligence …Read more

Lohé Issa Konaté alleged that his criminal conviction in Burkina Faso for libel was a violation of his right to freedom of expression, contrary to Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“Charter”) and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”). At the High Court, Konaté …Read more

The state of Cabinda was declared annexed by Angola without any Cabindan participation in 1975. Despite protests by the Cabindan people, Angola exercised sovereignty over Cabinda. Groups in Cabinda attempted to re-claim autonomy of their country in 2002, but Angola undertook a massive military campaign against them. Angola’s large military force committed numerous documented human …Read more

The respondent patient had filed a claim of negligence against the appellant doctor. She alleged that she suffered from urine incontinence after her hysterectomy surgery performed by the appellant. When she consulted a urologist, it was found that a fistula or hole was present in the patient’s bladder wall. In the High Court, there was …Read more

Mr. Bukenya’s wife went into labour and was admitted into the Mulago Hospital. She was operated upon by Dr. Kapuru and delivered a child by Caesarean section. The baby was not brought to her when she asked to see the baby. Mr. Bukenya was informed that his wife had delivered a male child and asked …Read more

While incarcerated in congested prison with poor hygienic conditions, Dudley Lee was infected with tuberculosis (TB).  The responsible prison authorities were aware of the risk of the inmates’ contracting TB, but did not have a comprehensive system in place to reduce the risk of infection. Rather, the prison authorities relied on a system of inmates …Read more

Section 3(1)(a) of the Tobacco Products Control Act of 1993 (the “Act”) prohibited any person from “advertising” or “promoting” a tobacco product.  The appellant, a tobacco manufacturer, contended that this prohibition should not extend to its one-to-one communication with consenting adult consumers of tobacco products as it was an unconstitutional limit on both the appellant’s …Read more

The Plaintiff was a nurse at a medical centre. Defendants were the medical centre and a doctor at the centre. While employed at the medical centre, the Plaintiff became pregnant and developed a skin disorder. She sought medical attention and the Defendant doctor performed several diagnostic tests. Neither the nature nor the outcome of the tests …Read more

The Petitioners were citizens of Kenya living with HIV. They claimed that provisions of the Anti-Counterfeiting Act, 2008 (the Act) severely restricted access to affordable, essential medicines, including generic medicines for HIV-related diseases, in violation of their fundamental rights to life, dignity and health protected under articles 26(1), 28 and 43 of the Constitution of …Read more

The petitioners claimed that the lack of provision of basic health maternal commodities in Government Health Facilities and the negligent, unethical behavior of health workers toward expectant mothers in those facilities resulted in violations of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda (the “Constitution”). Specifically, the petitioners claimed violations of the right to health and …Read more

The Minister of Health and Social Services issued regulations for the Medicines Act that created a licensing scheme for medical practitioners to be able to continue to dispense certain medicine. It also established a three-month transitional grace period, where medical practitioners already dispensing medicine could apply for the license and continue dispensing medicine while their …Read more

Aventis, a pharmaceutical company, applied for a preliminary injunction against infringement of its patent on its cancer drug Taxotere in order to restrain Cipla, an Indian pharmaceutical company, from importing, manufacturing or selling Cipla’s generic equivalent of the drug. Prior to this, Cipla had applied for revocation of Aventis’ amended patent on a number of …Read more

On 9 August 1995, B, a Libyan citizen, was arrested by the Libyan Internal Security Agency and held in secret detention at Abu Slim prison. In September 2000, B’s relatives were informed that B was alive and allowed to visit him in prison. During those visits, B told his relatives he had been regularly tortured …Read more

On 28 October 1997, JC (a military officer) was arrested by Zambian police for an attempted coup d’état. He was severely tortured and charged with treason. While being tortured, he was forced to sign false confessions and to implicate other military officials. Because of the torture, he was hospitalized at various times. On 31 October …Read more