Saudi Gazette report DAMMAM — Victims of medical mistakes can no longer sue hospitals because they have already been made to sign a disclaimer relieving the hospital from the responsibility of any mistake that may happen during surgical operations. A victim of a gastric bypass surgery told Al-Hayat newspaper on Sunday that a few days after an operation at a private hospital in Al-Khobar he suffered internal bleeding in his stomach. "I went to the US where doctors discovered that a medical error had been committed during the operation," he said. The victim, who did not want to be identified, said he could not sue the hospital because his father had signed a disclaimer absolving it of the responsibility of any mistake that might take place during the operation. He said the disclaimer included a sentence that said complications during the operation were probable. "Hospitals are now immune to lawsuits because of this disclaimer," he said. Najla Ibrahim, a young Saudi woman who was a victim of a medical mistake during delivery, said signing of disclaimers before delivery was not a new practice but it has been extended now to cover many other surgeries. "Hospitals have resorted to the signing of disclaimers as a precautionary measure to protect themselves against being sued for medical mistakes," she said. Ibrahim said while she was giving birth, her baby suffered a shortage of oxygen but the gynecologist did not resort to a caesarian operation and preferred instead to give time to natural delivery. "As a result, my baby girl was born disabled and will remain so for the rest of her life," she said. Ibrahim also said her father had an unsuccessful operation in the back for which they could not sue the hospital because they had already signed a disclaimer absolving the hospital of any responsibility. She said they had to do the operation again in another hospital thus incurring a lot of expenses. Dr. Yusuf Abdul Salam, medical director of a private hospital in Dammam, said the signing of disclaimers before any surgical operation is not a new practice, but hospitals have added new terms to it to avoid being held responsible for medical mistakes. "Suing hospitals for medical mistakes has become a phenomenon, so hospitals added new clauses to the disclaimers to preempt lawsuits over perceived medical mistakes. These clauses have been approved by the concerned authorities," he said. Abdul Salam said they coordinated with Health Affairs in the Eastern Province to protect the health facilities and bring down the number of lawsuits against them. "However, medical mistakes are still being committed but the hospitals are now immune to lawsuits and complaints," he said. Sharif Al-Abdul Qadir, a lawyer, asked patients and their families to read the disclaimer carefully before signing it. He recalled that the father of a young man had signed the disclaimer before his son was taken to the operation room for a major operation in the back. "The father thought this was a routine procedure so he did not bother to read the undertaking before signing it," he said. He said the father came to him to file a lawsuit against the hospital but he told him that he had no case because he had already signed a disclaimer.
