Health Affairs is waiting for an explanation from a private hospital in Jeddah for giving a disabled patient “false hopes” before carrying out costly operations, and failing to fully inform her of the possible consequences of surgery. 30-year-old Fawzia, who is paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair, was told by various consultants that she would never walk again, but her determination to pursue her dream led her to a consultant orthopedic surgeon at a Jeddah private hospital who gave her hope. Upon the hospital's recommendation, Fawzia then twice underwent surgery on her spine, and had two other operations to straighten her thighs. She was also fitted with a device to enable her lower limbs to function. All at a cost of SR150,000. The results, however, were far from what Fawzia says she had been led to believe. “I was really looking forward to the day when they would install the device and I could walk with the aid of walking sticks,” Fawzia said. “But afterwards the doctor told me I'd only be able walk to the kitchen and bathroom. Why didn't they tell me that before operating?” Not only was her dream shattered, but Fawzia says that after the operations she was left in a worse condition than before. “I came out of the hospital suffering from severe pain in my right leg and foot. I couldn't sleep because of it, but they only gave me some pain-killers,” she says. “So I went for a checkup at the Armed Forces Hospital in Riyadh, where they said the pain was due to nerve damage and side-effects from adjustments made to my spine,” “The doctor said that the pain would last for ten years or more and told me not to have any more operations.” Fawzia says that she then suffered a nervous breakdown and tried to commit suicide in hospital. Dr. Muhammad Abdul Jawad, Assistant Director of Health Affairs, said he was concerned about Fawzia's case and that the file detailing the circumstances of her complaint had been passed on to a committee of experts.
