Saleh Al-Turigee Okaz newspaper There are many shortcomings in the rules and regulations pertaining to legal issues at both government and private hospitals. The first shortcoming lies in the rule that makes a hospital, against which a complaint has been filed, a neutral party that can form an investigation committee to look into the complaint. It is obvious that a hospital which is involved in a malpractice suit cannot be made to play the role of criminal and judge at the same time. However, the most serious shortcoming is the overall weakness of the penal code which fails to ensure equal justice is awarded to both the victim and criminal. Justice entails that Imam Abdulrahman Al-Faisal Hospital in Dammam should not be allowed to form an investigation committee after it was sued by a man whose wife allegedly given a poison-laced meal at the hospital. Officials at the hospital, however, said employees strictly followed cleanliness and safety rules in all production lines and services. They further claimed to have specialized teams in food inspection and quality control. Since the hospital's administration is itself accused of negligence, it should not be allowed to assume the role of judge and should remain a defendant. Justice also entails that the company supplying the hospital with food should be fined millions of riyals and be publicly defamed if the accusation against the hospital turns out to be true. I think it is fair to punish any employees who may have a hand in the preparation of the contaminated meal on the charge of perpetrating a crime. I am not saying that the application of strict rules and harsh punishments will stop crimes but it will greatly reduce them. It is not the duty of the law to prevent crime but to punish perpetrators by ensuring justice to both victim and criminal. We have become so accustomed to imposing SR10,000 fines every time a food poisoning case goes to a court that we have forgotten that Islam considers the destruction of the Ka'ba, Islam's most sacred place of worship, a lesser crime than unjustly killing a human being.
