Medical error by a surgeon working in a private hospital caused a primary school student to miss one year of school due to health problems following surgery in which the deep muscles controlling excretion were mistakenly cut. Dhafer Al-Wade'iy, father of the eight-year-old boy Muhammad, said his son was suffering from certain symptoms, so he took him to a private hospital in Jeddah. An expatriate doctor at the hospital checked him and decided to conduct a fistula surgery. The operation was carried out and his son was released from hospital the following day, according to the doctor's directives. Al-Wade'iy said that after a month-and-a-half his son's condition did not improve and he became bedridden with the appearance of complications that caused concern. He took his son back to the doctor, who decided to conduct another surgery under the pretext of cleaning the wound in addition to removing some protruding pieces of flesh from the area where the first surgery was conducted. However, just a day-and-a-half later, his son's temperature increased dramatically with the secretion of pus containing fluids. The alarmed father repeatedly telephoned the doctor without getting any reply. Al-Wade'iy said when his son's condition deteriorated, he took him to King Fahd Military Hospital where a checkup showed that the deep muscles controlling excretion had been cut and that the surgery had left a deep wound leading to severe inflammation in turn causing continuous bleeding, pus secretion and the spread of bacteria in the boy's body. Al-Wade'iy said he demanded that the private hospital release medical records on his son's operation, but there was no response from the hospital. He said he would submit a complaint to the Minister of Health against the hospital for the harm done to his son and his family.
