Okaz/Saudi Gazette YANBU — Relatives alleged medical malpractice in the death of a woman at a private hospital in Amluj, a town north of Yanbu. Faidi Al-Jahani said his 45-year-old sister Noura was admitted to Al-Hawra Hospital in Amluj with complications from hypertension. Doctors gave the woman an intravenous injection and she immediately slipped into an irrevocable coma. A mother of 11, Noura had walked into the hospital ward without support. She remained in a state of coma for three months and 12 days before her death. Her body is still lying in the hospital morgue.Al-Jahani accused the doctors who attended to his sister of making serious error that resulted in her condition and subsequent death. He said he had filed a complaint with responsible authorities and the case had been referred to the Medical Shariah Committee in Tabuk. Al-Jahani said before his sister's death, he had sent a cable to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah requesting assistance to evacuate her to King Saud Hospital by air ambulance. An order was issued for airlifting her to King Khalid Hospital in Tabuk at the government's expense, but the hospital's administration insisted on transferring her there by land. Before completing the transfer procedures, Noura passed away and her brother holds the hospital's administration accountable because it failed to implement the order to airlift her to the specialist hospital. Al-Jahani also accused doctors of administering the wrong injection to his sister that sent her into a coma. In his complaint to the authorities, he has requested for the maximum punishment to whoever is responsible for his sister's death. Al-Jahani said his sister was the only support for her 11 children since her husband's death several months ago. Saudi Gazette contacted Abdul Rahman Thalab Hashem, supervisor of the Health Affairs in Amluj, for a comment but he refused and said the case had been closed and he was not authorized to speak about it. In an unrelated development, the former head of the Health Committee at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Eastern Province has said a surge in unverified reports about medical errors is the main reason for many experienced consultants working for private hospitals leaving the Kingdom. He claimed that 70 percent of complaints lodged with the health authorities against private hospitals were false and baseless and therefore had to be quashed. Patients have a legitimate right to make their complaints and the Health Affairs directorates treat all such complaints as genuine, said the former chamber official. He, however, said the Health Affairs Directorate in the Eastern Province does not seek the committee's opinion before taking action against the accused parties. Doctors accused of negligence are prevented from traveling until cases against them are resolved. This is a major concern for foreign doctors and the main reason for them to quit jobs in the Kingdom. The official said 90 percent of private hospitals in the country cover their doctors against possible medical errors. He said generally malpractice complaints are made against big hospitals, both in the government and private sector, and are rare against private clinics and health centers. This is because the majority of perceived medical errors occur during surgical procedures.
