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Lecture on April 22, 2015
for Year 4 medical students Faculty of Medicine, King Fahad Medical City Riyadh
by Dr Omar Hasan Kasule Sr.
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES AND KEY WORDS
·
Objectives: To understand the reporting of medical errors in the media
and its repercussions in the community
·
Keywords: Medical Errors,
Media, Community
DEFINITIONS
·
An error is a preventable adverse
effect of treatment examples: errors of diagnosis, wrong treatment
·
Malpractice is failure to fulfill
the duties of the trust put on the physician.
·
Negligence is breach of duty owed
by the physician to the patient resulting in damage or injury. Negligence is
defined according to the standard of care
BASIS OF LIABILITY:
Three ingredients must be proved in a case of negligence:
·
The physician owed a duty of care
·
The physician failed in that duty
·
The failure resulted in damage.
MALPRACTICE
SUITS: COURT PROCEDURE
·
Filing a complaint by the
plaintiff, serving a summons on the defendant
·
Plea of guilty or not guilty by
the defendant
·
Discovery (lawyers for both sides
collect more information by interviews, examinations, and collection of
documents)
·
Opening statements at the trial by
both sides
·
Testimony and examination of
witnesses
·
Closing arguments and judgment.
PROOF
·
The burden of proof of breach of
standard of care lies with the plaintiff.
· Proof of breach is based on a
balance of probabilities, on the ‘but-for’ test, and on causation of damage or
risk.
AVOIDING / PREVENTION OF
MALPRACTICE SUITS
·
Obtaining and maintaining
registration,
·
Sticking to defined professional
standards of care,
·
Peer review, quality assurance,
use of protocols,
·
Defensive medicine
·
Politeness with patients.
· The best protection against
medical negligence is the conscience of all health care workers to make sure
that mistakes do not occur.
CASE #1: DOCTORS UNDER PROBE FOR MEDICAL ERROR….
(Arab News Sunday, March 26, 2014)
A number of medical staff
working in government and private sector hospitals in Jeddah is under
investigation for a medical error which resulted in the explosion of a mother’s
womb sending her newborn baby into a coma, local media said quoting a Health
Affairs spokesman in Jeddah.
Amin Al-Sheikh, the baby’s father filed a complaint to the police for negligence by the staff in the maternity ward at one of the private sector hospitals, and later, by the maternity and pediatrics government hospital in Musaddiya, where the case was referred to, which exposed the mother and the unborn child to risk, Abdulrahaman Al-Sahafi told Al-Watan daily.
In response, the Health Affairs department has formed a three-member committee consisting of maternity and pediatrics doctors to open an inquiry into the case. The medical staff responsible for the mishap have been called to give testimonials and banned from leaving the Kingdom.
CASE #1: DOCTORS UNDER PROBE FOR MEDICAL ERROR… con’t.
“If the case is proved to be
caused by negligence of the said medical staff, the file will be referred to
the medical judicial council (MJC) for further procedures,” Al-Sahafi said.
The baby’s father told media that his wife who was in the ninth month of pregnancy was given false assurances during her routine checkups ignoring the severity of her case. At the time of the child’s birth, he had to rush his wife to the emergency unit of the maternity and pediatrics hospital in Musaadiyya where he was informed that she needed to undergo a caesarean delivery. “They kept her in the delivery room for two hours which aggravated the situation,” he said.
His wife was transported to the X-ray and operation rooms several times which caused complications, he said. She was given an anesthetic prior to being operated on and they even took her fingerprints which is a violation of the health ministry’s regulations, the father maintained. “The unnecessary delays and negligence on the part of the medical staff at the hospitals caused an explosion in my wife’s womb and my son to go into a coma,” he said.
CASE#2: MEDICAL ERROR BLAMED
FOR DEATH OF 8-YEAR-OLD BOY
(Arab News
Nov 18, 2012)
JEDDAH: A health official
accused a leading private hospital in Jeddah for colluding with a doctor
involved in a fatal medical error.
“The Directorate of Health
issued a memo to the private hospital administration requesting them not to
allow the expatriate doctor, involved in the child’s death, to flee the
country. The memo also made it clear that any other hospital staff involved in
the medical error should also be present in the country for interrogations.
Anyone who conceals facts from the directorate will be punished,” Assistant
Director of Health Affairs in Jeddah, Dr. Turki Al-Sharif said.
Salah Al-Deen, son of a
leading businessman, Sheikh Yusuf Jameel, died due to a medical error at Dr.
Erfan & Bagdeo Hospital in Jeddah on Thursday. The eight-year old boy was
taken to the hospital for a checkup, after he developed symptoms of swollen
lymphatic glands, following a two-week-long bout of fever.
The mother gave her consent
to the doctors, to do the necessary surgery, after she was reassured that it
was a simple operation that would only last for 30 minutes. However, the
doctors, reportedly, operated upon the boy in an x-ray lab that was not
equipped for surgical operations. In the course of anesthesia, the boy was administered
nitrogen instead of oxygen. By the time the surgeons discovered the mistake,
the circulatory system had been completely damaged. The situation was further
exacerbated because the x-ray room was not equipped for emergency cardiac
resuscitation. The hospital offered condolences to the bereaved relatives on
behalf of the administration and staff members.
CASE#2: MEDICAL ERROR BLAMED
FOR DEATH OF 8-YEAR-OLD BOY... con’t.
The hospital administration,
blamed a technical maintenance company for the fatal error, and filed a
complaint to the police department against the company, for bungling the
medical equipment system.
Al-Sharif however, pointed
out, the improper conduct of the hospital administration, after committing a
serious medical error. “The hospital administration demonstrated contradictory
behavior when they helped the expatriate doctor, suspected to be involved in
the fatal medical error, to flee the country, and yet blamed the maintenance
company for the death of the child,” Al-Sharif said in a statement to
Al-Madinah newspaper.
“The mistake happened inside
the x-ray room, when the maintenance company mixed up the oxygen and nitrogen
inlets. The company carried out the routine maintenance, without the knowledge
of the concerned authorities in the hospital,” the hospital statement said on
Thursday.
CASE#2: MEDICAL ERROR BLAMED
FOR DEATH OF 8-YEAR-OLD BOY... con’t.
Al-Shareef said the fault
still lies within the hospital administration for appointing unreliable
employees.
He said a technical committee
is investigating the damage done to the child’s respiratory system caused by
the nitrogen supplied by mistake at the time of the surgery. Another
engineering committee is investigating the medical equipment used in the
hospital.
Minister of Health Dr.
Abdullah Al-Rabeeah has been personally following the case and has asked for an
urgent report about the cause of the child’s death. The hospital said it is
cooperating fully with the officials and that it handed over all the files
related to the medical error to the health directorate.
It also demanded the
directorate to pass the case to the Shariah Court, to prosecute the people
responsible for the child’s death, including the maintenance company.
The hospital also stated
that the Ministry of Health had granted them, five months ago, a quality
certificate after they scored 95 percent and 87 percent on the ministry’s
evaluation.
CASE #3: MEDICAL ERRORS ON
THE RISE
(Arab News
February 3, 2014)
The Kingdom is looking to
develop a system of accountability for medical errors in the wake of an
alarming increase in the number of such cases across the country.
Many practitioners in the
Kingdom get away with their mistakes simply because there is no mechanism in
place for monitoring incidents of medical malpractice.
“Getting doctors to admit
they have committed a medical error is the biggest challenge,” said Dr. Hasan
Farah of Qatif’s Central Hospital in the Eastern Province, who is conducting
studies on the issue.
Speaking to Arab News on
Sunday, Farah said that accurate statistics on the number of medical errors
occurring in the Kingdom and the region at large are unavailable due to the
absence of monitoring.
“Admitting mistakes is an
ethical necessity and may help prevent such mistakes from recurring in the
future,” he said.
CASE #3: MEDICAL ERRORS ON
THE RISE... con’t.
He also said that “it is not
easy to judge errors occurring in the medical field due to their complexity.”
He said that medical errors
in obstetrics and gynecology account for 27 percent of the total number of
errors on record, the largest percentage in any specialty.
Surgical errors account for
17 percent of errors, while errors in internal medicine account for 13 percent
of all cases and pediatrics 10 percent. The findings are based on a study
conducted by Dr. Tawfiq Khoja on medical malpractice in the Kingdom.
“Systematic processes must
be put in place for the identification and reporting of medical errors and for
the implementation of a system of accountability, which will undoubtedly minimize
the rate of medical mistakes,” said Farah.
CASE #3: MEDICAL ERRORS ON
THE RISE... con’t.
Advanced nations such as the
United States have a higher percentage of medical error, but have a more
transparent system for gathering data, he said.
Jeddah leads in medical
errors in the Kingdom, with 287 cases, followed by Riyadh with 280.
“A total of 1,356 cases were
reported in the Kingdom last year,” said Majid Garoub, chairman of a legal
committee on medical cases.
Around 722 cases were
initially discovered, of which only 129 were confirmed, he said quoting
Ministry of Health statistics.
He blamed a lack of
expertise for the high rate of medical errors.
Garoub said that a medical
and law forum would be held from May 20 to 22 to address this growing phenomenon
in the Kingdom and to come up with mechanisms for counteracting these
statistics.
Health Minister Dr. Abdullah
Al-Rabeeah recently fired a Saudi physician and revoked his medical license
after he was found to have committed a medical error.
The Ministry of Health has
also opened a helpline for members of the public to report medical errors at
www.moh.gov.sa or by faxing 0112124196.
The Legitimate Health
Authority is an independent court tasked with probing cases of medical error.
It is chaired by a judge appointed by the minister of justice. The authority
has among its members a professor appointed by the minister of higher education
and two other physicians appointed by the minister of health, in addition to a
statutory adviser.
CASE #4: MINISTRY SUSPENDS
DOCTOR FOR COMMITTING MEDICAL ERRORS
(Arab News
Sunday, Jan 29, 2014)
Health Minister Dr. Abdullah
Al-Rabeeah suspended a doctor in the private sector for medical errors and
breach of health regulations on Tuesday.
The decision to suspend the
doctor was taken by the minister upon recommendation made by a special
committee, which investigated the allegations against the medical practitioner.
The special committee
comprises members from the Ministries of Justice, Higher Education and Health.
The Health Ministry has
deployed an investigations committee to conduct regular inspections of private
facilities in health domains to check the quality of services offered in
ambulance services, operation theaters and the professional suitability of
medics and paramedics employed by these health institutions to ensure quality
health care to patients.
Besides dealing with medical
errors and violations, a ministry official said that reasons for punitive
action include working without licenses or functioning with expired licenses,
employing lack of trained medical staff and the absence of proper facilities
and equipment. The closure of some of these medical facilities is temporary and
they can be reopened once the irregularities are rectified, he added.
CASE #4: MINISTRY SUSPENDS
DOCTOR FOR COMMITTING MEDICAL ERRORS... con’t.
The official said that
punitive action reflects the ministry’s concern for the safety and welfare of
patients. He further warned that negligence and recklessness on the part of
health providers would not be tolerated by the government and that stern action
would be taken against such violators based on the seriousness of the
violations.
In 2012, Al-Rabeeah launched
a “Patients First” program, which highlights the care expected from health
providers for patients in the Kingdom.
The Health Ministry closed
down 30 medical complexes, 15 polyclinics, 29 pharmacies, 27 optical houses and
five physiotherapy centers for violations last year. During this period, the
ministry also collected SR3.75 million in fines from such violators, which
included SR1.98 million from pharmacies.
The Ministry of Health has
also opened a helpline for members of the public to make complaints about
medical errors and health violations in the Kingdom.
“Members of the public can
file their complaints online or they can directly fax the details for action,”
he said, adding that they can make an online complaint on www.moh.gov.sa)
CASE #5: GOVERNMENT
HOSPITALS MONITORED ELECTRONICALLY FOR MEDICAL ERRORS
(Arab News
Sep 26, 2013)
Hospitals at the Ministry of
Health have been connected electronically, said Sami Badawood, director-general
of Jeddah Health Affairs.
“Government hospitals have
also been linked with the Health Ministry’s branch in Riyadh,” he added.
“We are in the process of
linking private hospitals for the safety of patients,” he said, pointing out
that medical error or mistakes will reach the ministry in Riyadh on the spot.
“The ministry will then take punitive measures.”
The Health Ministry will
dispatch a specialized team to questionable locations for evaluation and
conduct further discussions on ways to prevent such mistakes from recurring,
said Badawood.
CASE #5: GOVERNMENT
HOSPITALS MONITORED ELECTRONICALLY FOR MEDICAL ERRORS... con’t.
Badawood said that health
services offered by the ministry in the Kingdom are still fledging in terms of
quality and risk management in comparison with its counterparts in other
countries. He made the statement during a convention on “Patient safety, Quality
and Risk management” organized by King Abdul-Aziz Hospital.
“Our ministry has made great
achievements in the area of healthcare. There are already three hospitals in
Jeddah that acquired quality accreditation from the Joint Commission
International (JCI), a commission that evaluates hospitals worldwide.”
He said that hospitals with
100 to 200 beds are stepping up efforts to acquire approval via the Central
Council for the Accreditation of Health Institutions, a minimized standard of
the JCI.
CASE #5: GOVERNMENT
HOSPITALS MONITORED ELECTRONICALLY FOR MEDICAL ERRORS... con’t.
“The first step taken by the
Saudi Health Ministry is qualifying trainees in the field of patient safety,
quality and risk management to disseminate a culture of patient safety and
quality between health workers in the different sectors,” explained Badawood.
“Very few states recorded
incidents of the coronavirus. This is why the Saudi Health Ministry only
conducted a survey among pilgrims suffering from high fever or flu. Such
pilgrims will be closely monitored.”
More than 620 members at
King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah will work around the clock.
“All pilgrims coming from
infected regions will get a vaccine shot. There is a plan in place with the
World Health Organization to follow up disease outbreak and distribution maps,”
he added.
Around 250,000 pilgrims have
reached the country so far through Jeddah’s airport, he said. “They were all
provided with comprehensive health services. Free-of-charge vaccinations will
be given to pilgrims,” he concluded.
“Not a single epidemic has
been recorded between pilgrims so far,” he said.
CASE #6: TRAVEL BAN ON 20
MEDICS IN RAFHA AFTER MEDICAL ERROR
(Arab News
May 28, 2013)
Authorities have imposed a
travel ban on 20 health practitioners, doctors and technicians who worked at
Rafha Central Hospital’s nursery department.
The ban came after the
department caused total or partial blindness to four children at the hospital.
The medical commission at
Tabuk will launch a full-scale investigation for Asil and Rasil, twin sisters
whose father alleged they were blinded during their stay at the hospital as a
result of medical error, on Tuesday.
Thamer Al-Shamari told a
local newspaper that he has submitted a complaint against the hospital.
He said other parents whose
children were blinded under similar circumstances have also filed action
against the hospital.
CASE #6: TRAVEL BAN ON 20
MEDICS IN RAFHA AFTER MEDICAL ERROR... con’t.
The father of the girls said
the Ministry of Health should bear the cost of treatment at the best medical
centers in Germany or the US.
Al-Shamari discovered the
condition of his daughters 14 days after they left the hospital.
“I took them both to an eye
doctor who said they suffered from a severance of the retina,” he said, adding
that the oxygen overdose they were exposed to caused this separation.
One doctor involved in the
case was allowed to travel. The Director of Health Affairs at the northern
borders, Muhammad Al-Habdan, said that the doctor submitted a legal proxy after
paying medical insurance in case claims were made against him.
CASE #7: MOH SETS UP BOARD
TO CHECK MEDICAL ERRORS
(Arab News
June 2, 2013)
The Ministry of Health has
established a Forensic Medical Board to deal with medical error cases.
Khalid Al-Mirghalani, the
ministry’s spokesman, told Arab News yesterday that the board would function as
a parent body to other branches that are being set up in all major cities in
the Kingdom. He added that plans are under way to establish a forensic medical
committee in Bisha shortly.
Al-Mirghalani explained that
the forensic medical centers dispersed across different parts of the Kingdom
have been provided with specialists in the relevant discipline.
Forensic medicine is a multidisciplinary
field, which combines medical, social, and judicial analysis, provides
practical expertise and describes cases from a scientific point of view.
He said that the board would
operate as a legal body to look into cases of medical malpractice and medical
error complaints filed by citizens.
The Forensic Medical Board
will also provide its branches with a special forensic kit to facilitate
clinical tests for cases of sexual abuse.
CASE #7: MOH SETS UP BOARD
TO CHECK MEDICAL ERRORS... con’t.
Munirah bint Hamdan
Al-Osaimi, assistant undersecretary of the ministry for medical services, said
the forensic medicine department at the ministry has been active in providing
fellowships to health officials who work under the program.
“The fellowship in forensic
medicine program awards a specialist certificate on forensic medicine, which is
equivalent to a postgraduate degree,” she noted.
Some 15 male and female
Saudi physicians were admitted in the 2012 program, thereby bringing the total
number of beneficiaries to 51 physicians in different specialties, she said.
The forensic medicine
department has also contributed to the master’s degree program on toxins and
narcotics, which is being awarded by Naif Arab University for Security Sciences
(NAUSS), she said.
She added that the
department had also participated in the work of the Scientific Committee of
Chemical Safety (SCCS) through a workshop, which focused on cases of chemical
and drug poisoning.
In an earlier statement,
Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said the ministry is keen on working to
prevent medical errors and “will take necessary action against those proven
guilty of such mistakes.”
CASE #8: MEDICAL ERROR
RESULTS IN GIRL’S SLOW DEATH
(Arab New
April 27, 2006)
JEDDAH, 27 April 2006 — A
seven-year-old girl, who underwent an appendectomy on March 3 and returned to
emergency care a month later due to a forgotten surgical swab that festered in
her abdomen, died from the apparent surgical mistake, Al-Riyadh newspaper
reported yesterday.
Razan Alwani, the daughter
of a police sergeant in the Farasan Islands, was taken to a local hospital when
she showed signs of severe illness. Doctors there discovered the surgical swab
and the girl underwent a six-hour emergency surgery.
After two days in the
hospital, Razan showed signs of improvement and doctors were hopeful that she
would be ready for another operation in two weeks.
However by Sunday night
there was an unexpected reverse in her condition. She was transferred back to
the emergency ward where she died from septic shock.
“But the real cause was
intestinal infection developed owing to the negligence durimg the
appendectomy,” Razan’s father Adil said.
The surgical team is under
investigation.
CASE #9: MEDICAL COMMISSION
NEEDS INDEPENDENCE
(Arab News
March 11, 2013)
My mother passed away almost
two years ago. She was a renal patient for five years and during her illness my
family and I have come to a close contact with the Saudi health public and
private sectors.
We have learned that if you
want peace of mind entrust your beloved ones to the private sector.
Yet by going to the private
sector one must have an excellent credit history and that the same credit is
maintained following the treatment. I doubt, though, that many families can
keep up with the costs of a private hospital because receiving treatment in the
private sector in Saudi Arabia has become increasingly unbearable for the
middle class.
Recently, the media greet us
every morning with a shocking story of malpractice and medical mistakes in
which children and adults are victimized by alleged negligence.
This is not to say that
medical errors do not happen elsewhere. They occur even in the most advanced
countries. Medical mistakes are considered the third leading cause of death in
the world. Last year, 250,000 people died in the United States because of
medical errors.
CASE #9: MEDICAL COMMISSION
NEEDS INDEPENDENCE... con’t.
Millions were also injured.
However, what makes United States and other developed countries different from
us is the accountability system. A health care provider in the US might lose
his license if the mistake was found to be a result of a malpractice. This is
not the practice in Saudi Arabia. I have never read about a doctor or a nurse
who lost his license for a proven case of medical malpractice.
In 2011, Liam Donaldson, the
WHO envoy for patient safety said, “If you were admitted to a hospital tomorrow
in any country ... your chances of being subjected to an error in your care
would be something like 1 to 10.
Your chances of dying due to
an error in health care would be 1 in 300.”
He compared the risk of
dying from a medical error to the risk of dying in an airplane crash, which
stands at 1 in 10 million.
I wonder whether Mr.
Donaldson consulted his record about medical errors in Saudi Arabia before
citing that number.
I am sure that he did not
because if he did he would have said, “Going to a hospital in Saudi Arabia is
more dangerous than driving in its own streets. In Saudi Arabia, 73 percent of
the registered deaths of people under the age of 40 is due to road accidents.
Twenty people die every day.”
CASE #9: MEDICAL COMMISSION
NEEDS INDEPENDENCE... con’t.
According to a report by the
Saudi Ministry of Health, the number of medical errors under investigation by
the Saudi Shariah Medical Commission, the agency responsible for investigating
the reported cases of medical errors, is 1,165.
The number is alarming,
though we all know that there are probably an equal number cases that go
unreported by the families due to the religious nature of the Saudi society
that strongly believes that death is fate and no one can change it.
Many Saudis believe that
dying in a hospital at a very young age is no different form dying at bed in
your 90s. I am not claiming otherwise, however, malpractice should not go
unpunished.
We should introduce
malpractice liability and financial penalties for poor performance. We need a
consumer reporting system for patient safety that is similar to the US.
That does not mean holding
doctors and nurses accountable for each self-reported case. We know that
families might not have enough medical background to judge the medical
procedure. Yet their reports should be used as a tip for a further professional
investigation.
The medical investigative
body should be independent, but currently most members of the Saudi Shariah
Medical Commission are practicing doctors at other government hospitals. It’s
difficult to investigate and charge your colleague or close friend, and then
work or go for shisha at the beach with him the next day. What kind of justice
is this going to produce?
CASE #10: HOSPITAL IN DEADLY
NEGLIGENCE ROW, AGAIN
(Arab News
Oct. 25, 2013)
Erfan & Bagedo Hospital
in Jeddah is once again in the midst of a medical error controversy after
17-year old Zubaidah died on Thursday during surgery.
Sami Badawood, Health
Affairs director in Jeddah, said that it was a case of medical error, which
could have occurred on any surgeon’s watch.
Penalties are incurred by
either the surgeon or the hospital following review and include financial fines
and the withdrawal of medical licensing.
Both the surgeon and the
hospital have refused to issue a statement to the media and have requested that
journalists submit their questions in writing.
Badawood said that the
committee determined the cause of death as “complications during the surgical
procedure.” The physician injured one of the major veins in the abdominal
cavity as he inserted a scope in Zubaida’s abdomen. Such a surgical procedure
has a 0.1 percent fatality rate.
CASE #10: HOSPITAL IN DEADLY
NEGLIGENCE ROW, AGAIN... con’t.
Zubaida was originally
suffering from appendicitis. Her father said: “The procedure to remove my
daughter’s appendix was expected to last only 30 minutes, but the procedure
lasted from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The emergency signal went off in the hospital
and medical teams suddenly rushed into the surgery room.
“I was eventually approached
by the supervising doctor who performed the procedure and he told me that my
daughter suffered from medical complications caused by the mixing of oxygen and
nitrogen.”
No one had told him that
Zubaida was brain dead. Rather, he was informed that she would be transferred
to the Intensive Care Unit for treatment. He noticed two incisions on her
abdomen, which confirmed that doctors had performed open surgery without his
consent, he said.
Doctors explained that they
had to create the incision to rectify the injury that was caused during the
initial endoscopic procedure.
“On Wednesday, I was told
that she was partially brain dead, and this morning, they removed all the
equipment because she was unresponsive. In essence, my daughter was already
dead,” he said.
“We are still awaiting the
results of the investigation being conducted by the committee at the Ministry
of Health. I have faith that my daughter’s rights will not be lost.”
CASE #11: PATIENTS STILL
PAYING FOR MEDICAL ERRORS
(Arab News
Sep 22, 2007)
MAKKAH, 22 September 2007 —
Due to an alleged lack of supervision by the Ministry of Health, medical
mistakes in the Kingdom’s hospitals continue to claim the lives of people. Arab
News met Muhammad, a 42-year-old Saudi citizen whose quest for proper medical
care took him across the Middle East and beyond to the UK.
Muhammad is married and has
two children. For a long time he suffered severe back pain that prevented him
from walking and so went to a well-known hospital in Jeddah to consult a Saudi
bone specialist.
“The doctor said he wanted
an x-ray and carried out some clinical examinations. He told me that I was
suffering from inflammation at the end of my back in the coccyx (the tailbone
or the final segment of the human vertebral column),” said Muhammad, who was
advised to take tranquilizers to make him feel better.
CASE #11: PATIENTS STILL
PAYING FOR MEDICAL ERRORS... con’t.
“The tranquilizers reduced
the pain for a while but it soon came back,” he said, adding that he went to
another private hospital and consulted an Egyptian physician, who concurred
with the previous doctor’s diagnosis after carrying out x-rays himself.
Unsatisfied with the
treatment he received, Muhammad went to a hospital in Beirut where a bone
doctor told him that he needed to exercise his coccyx bone. On returning to
Jeddah, a fourth doctor told him that the pain he was suffering was the result
of cramp in his muscles due to the exercise that he was doing.
Muhammad then consulted a
Saudi neurosurgeon, who asked him to undergo a scan. The doctor also advised
him to undergo physiotherapy.
Not seeing a difference,
Muhammad went to an Egyptian physician, who told him not to think a lot because
that was affecting his nerves and causing him pain. He also advised him to take
some depression tablets.
Muhammad then went to
another Saudi physician at Al-Badria Medical Towers. The physician advised him
to visit a neurologist because he could not work out what was wrong.
CASE #11: PATIENTS STILL
PAYING FOR MEDICAL ERRORS... con’t.
The 42-year-old continued
visiting doctor after doctor. He even went to a bone consultant in Egypt, who
told him that he was suffering from inflammation in the sciatic nerve and that
this was what was hurting him. He advised him to take some strong
tranquilizers.
Muhammad said, “I followed
lots of doctors’ prescriptions, but the pain continued to increase. The
financial losses were increasing too.”
Finally Muhammad decided to
go to Britain to consult a specialist physician identified only as Dr. James,
who after examining him told him that there was a tumor in his back that needed
to be removed.
“He told me that he was
going to carry out surgery. He told me that he wouldn’t go ahead if I were
unsure about it. He said his main concern was to make sure I was satisfied with
the treatment,” said Muhammad, adding that he underwent the surgery.
CASE #11: PATIENTS STILL
PAYING FOR MEDICAL ERRORS... con’t.
“After the operation the
doctor ordered that I undergo another brain and neck scan to make sure
everything was OK. He gave me some medication and asked me to visit him again
after eight months,” Muhammad said.
“Dr. James said that if he
cannot properly diagnose a case then he takes help from his colleagues. He told
me that sharing experience with other doctors benefits him and his patients.
Moreover, in Britain doctors are punished severely for medical mistakes,” he
said.
Muhammad urged physicians in
Saudi Arabia to fear God and respect their medical oaths.
“You are dealing with the
flesh and blood of human beings. I spent SR20,000 on treatment in Britain. I
wish I had spent this money in Saudi Arabia. This would have made me proud,” he
said.
CASE #12: CHEMOTHERAPY
VICTIM TO BE SENT ABROAD
(Arab News
July 2, 2013)
Al-Qassim Gov. Prince Faisal
bin Bandar expressed his concern at the grave medical error that caused a
healthy child to undergo a highly hazardous cancer treatment at a hospital in
Buraidah last week.
The victim of the near-fatal
error, five-year old Rama Al-Mohaimed, is currently receiving treatment at home
under the supervision of experts from King Faisal Specialist Hospital in
Riyadh.
Acting director general of
Health Affairs in Al-Qassim province Dr. Abdullah Al-Saigal said that Rama
would soon be sent for further treatment abroad.
The error was attributed to
a doctor who, reportedly confused Rama’s name with that of 15-year-old cancer
patient Rami.
“What happened is a serious
mistake and the perpetrators of such an error should be answerable; our country
is not a place for conducting experiments,” said Prince Faisal during a meeting
held to discuss the medical mistake at the prince’s office in Buraidah on
Sunday.
CASE #12: CHEMOTHERAPY
VICTIM TO BE SENT ABROAD... con’t.
Al-Saigal, Dr. Al-Amin
Sabahi, medical director of the Maternity and Children’s Hospital; and Ahmed
Al-Qeblan, director of Prince Faisal bin Bandar Cancer Center in Qassim;
attended the meeting. The father of the victim, Abdullah Al- Mohaimed and Rama
were also present at the meeting.
“I call this table around
which we are meeting the table of interrogation, monitoring and accountability.
It will be called so until we combat each and every shortcoming committed by
government departments. The culprit and his victim will sit at this table until
the person who committed the error is held accountable for his deed,” the
prince said vowing action against any individual responsible for committing
mistakes.
“This mistake cannot be
pardoned,” the prince said, adding that periodic reports about Rama’s condition
should be conducted and delivered to him.
Al-Saigal explained to the
prince that the Committee for Medical Violations would examine the error and
conduct an investigation.
The girl had been subjected
to the treatment for cancer following a wrong diagnosis. The prince was also
told that the Egyptian doctor responsible for the error had left the country.
Al-Mohaimed thanked the
doctors for saving his daughter’s life by discontinuing the chemotherapy
treatment before it was too late. He explained that his daughter was still in a
state of trauma.