The husband of the woman who had a pair of scissors left in her abdomen for 40 months following surgery over three years ago has refused to accept a Shariah Medical Commission ruling of SR40,000 in compensation ordered payable by the hospital responsible for the error. Faiz Seraj said he intended to take his appeal to the Board of Grievances. “This sum in no way represents sufficient compensation for the pain my wife has experienced over the last three years,” Seraj said. “The Shariah Commission did not summon the surgeon responsible for the error.” Seraj said his wife had continual pains that were not correctly diagnosed and that she was given ulcer treatment and prescribed nervous colon drugs which she took for over three years. “We looked for treatment absolutely everywhere possible, and it got to the point where I thought it might have been the evil eye,” he said. “She was examined by over eight doctors and all of them failed to diagnose the source of her pains. It wasn't until she fainted and I took her to King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah that they discovered the scissors in her abdomen. They had caused a lot of damage to her small intestine.” Searj's wife had sections of her large intestine removed when surgery was performed to extract the scissors, and his lawyer is seeking SR40 million in compensation for his client. Three days ago the Shariah Medical Commission fined the private hospital responsible SR70,000 but did not charge the surgeon or nursing team, all of whim are of Egyptian nationality. No reason was provided for the lack of charges, but one member of the commission only signed the verdict after attaching a handwritten note stating that the surgeon and assistants should be punished.
