MADINAH, 22 August 2006 — A committee set up to investigate the death of Najat Balahmar, the woman who died at the beginning of August at a private hospital in Madinah after being given the wrong type of blood following a Caesarean operation, has found the hospital to be guilty of negligence, reported the Al-Watan newspaper.
Najat, who had type-O blood, died shortly after receiving type-AB blood at the Safa Al-Madinah hospital. Both the patient’s file and the bag that contained the blood were marked correctly.
In its concluding report, the committee said that the medical team at the hospital that dealt with Najat is to blame for her death. Individuals held responsible include the female doctor that carried out the operation, the lab technician who is currently still on the run, the hospital’s manager, two nurses and an anesthetist.
A source from the Health Affairs Department in Madinah said that reports were completed and submitted to a local court. The source said that it is expected that three of the people identified will be severely punished. “A report from the government hospital in which Najat was transferred to after her health deteriorated revealed that the doctor that carried out the operation had committed three medical and ethical violations,” said the source.
The source added that in spite of the doctor being responsible for the supervision of the blood transfer she failed to monitor the transfusion. “If she supervised the blood transfer, she would have discovered early on that the blood type was AB while Najat’s blood type was O. She was also late to make a decision to transfer Najat to a specialized government hospital when her health started to deteriorate from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.,” said the source.
“She also did not tell the medical crew at the government hospital about the wrong blood transfer, which contributed to her death. If the hospital knew about the wrong blood transfer, they would have had time to save her,” said the source.
The source also revealed that looking at the evidence, the family of the victim has a strong enough case to file a lawsuit and demand justice. “The investigation has incriminated the hospital manager because he is responsible for the hospital and did not take enough measures to save the woman’s life.”
He added that the investigation found the lab technician guilty of providing the wrong type of blood. “This error could have been avoided if the medical crew and the female doctor did the proper testing before transferring the blood. As for the two nurses and the anesthetist, they take part of the blame but the majority of the blame falls on the doctor,” said the source.
The source added that a second committee is investigating the hospital and is still evaluating the hospital and will soon submit its results to the Ministry of Health and the Governorate Office in Madinah.
The family of the woman, a mother of four, said that they hope to file a lawsuit against the hospital and see those responsible punished. According to Al-Watan, the family of the victim has refused offers of money from the hospital to drop the case. The hospital has reportedly offered a quarter of a million riyals to the family.
Meanwhile, Madinah Health Affairs has submitted an order to the Passport Department instructing them to prevent doctors and hospital staff involved in the case from leaving the Kingdom.
Following the death, Al-Watan newspaper cited anonymous sources at the hospital saying that the lab technician was neither under the hospital’s sponsorship nor a certificate holder. If true, this isn’t likely to absolve the hospital of responsibility and may give rise to more incriminating questions, such as how a non-sponsored and uncertified lab technician could perform a potentially fatal procedure on a patient at a private hospital.
