DAMMAM, 7 October 2003 — The administration of King Fahd Medical City (KFMC) has initiated a malpractice investigation after a kidney transplanted into one of its patients turned out to have been decayed.
According to a report in Al-Watan newspaper, a surgical team at the medical city was forced to remove the new kidney because of severe bloating in the patient’s abdomen.
Following the second operation the surgical team refused to give the patient, Qasem Al-Hareisi, his medical reports and discontinued treatment. He is still undergoing dialysis three times a week at Dammam Central Hospital.
Al-Hareisi told the paper he had been suffering from a blood clot in the arterial and venous fistula in addition to kidney failure in its last critical stages.
He had been undergoing dialysis continuously over the past seven years as well as being diagnosed with hepatitis C before he was given the decayed kidney.
Al-Hareisi is seeking damages for malpractice as well as a punishment for the surgical team.
KFMC Director Col. Ali ibn Saleh Al-Zamil confirmed that the case was under “thorough investigation” and said Al-Hareisi had the right to access all his reports and continue treatment at the medical city.
