Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — A hospital has kept the deceased body of a woman for more than two weeks due to non-payment of the hospital fees by the family. The Jeddah Health Affairs spokesman Abdullah Al-Ghamdi said the family of the deceased patient was required to pay SR943,000 for the treatment of the patient, but it has cut the cost owed to the hospital. "The Ministry of Health decreased the debt the family owed the hospital to SR200,000. However, the hospital has no right to keep the body of the patient in its morgue," said Al-Ghamdi. The hospital's operational manager said the family must pay SR200,000 to the hospital for the medical treatment. "The patient came into the hospital to give birth but she was put into intensive care for 45 days. The patient then went into a coma and x-rays and diagnosis revealed that she suffered from a stroke. The doctors performed a caesarian to extract the fetus out of her," said the operational manager. He added the fetus did not survive and she died after losing a large amount of blood. "The family had already paid SR40,000. They have still to pay SR160,000," said the operational manager. Mohammad Yousef, the husband of the victim, said the victim died of a medical error caused by the hospital. "My wife was 28 years old. She walked into the emergency ward of the hospital during her eighth month of pregnancy. The doctors extracted the fetus from my wife and she went into a coma after suffering from a stroke. My wife was kept in the intensive care unit for 45 days and the doctors reported that her condition was stable," said Yousef. He also said that after she passed away the hospital demanded that I pay the fees for her treatment, which reached close to SR1 million. "I went to the medical manager of the hospital to protest against the expensive bill and they decreased the bill to SR450,000. I filed a complaint against the hospital to Jeddah Health Affairs Directorate. The directorate decreased the bill to SR200,000," said Yousef. He added that he had demanded an investigation to be held into the medical error the hospital committed and he called on the hospital to release the deceased body of his wife.
