MAKKAH, 8 February 2007 — A man has filed a lawsuit against a hospital for malpractice he says put his three-and-a-half-year-old into a coma from which he has not emerged, Al-Madinah newspaper reported yesterday.
“My son lies helpless in hospital,” said Mansour Tijani. “His condition is critical and it’s getting worse day after day.”
Tijani said he took his son Osama to hospital last month because he was suffering from constipation. He said he was transferred to different hospitals until he ended up at the Al-Noor Specialist Hospital in Makkah where, he said, “we did the necessary tests and X-rays.”
Because of the crowded conditions at the hospital due to Haj, Tijani said he was given another appointment a few days later. The doctors then ran a series of tests and diagnosed the child with a gastrointestinal condition that required surgery. “A day after the operation, my son started vomiting heavily; he also had a fever,” said the father. “The doctor then examined my son and it turned out that there was a gastrointestinal infection.”
Tijani claims the doctor admitted that the child was misdiagnosed and a wrong surgery was performed. The father appealed to the Ministry of Health to conduct a full investigation.
