MADINAH, 24 July 2007 — The Court of Grievances has ordered a doctor, whose medical mistakes led to the death of a patient at a private hospital in Madinah, to pay SR100,000 in blood money to relatives of the deceased.
Dr. Sahal Salama, director general of Health Affairs in Madinah, told Arab News that the Court of Grievances upheld the findings and decision made by the Legal Health Commission, which found the doctor guilty of causing the death of a patient. The commission ordered the doctor to pay SR100,000 in blood money to the relatives of the deceased and a further SR5,000 fine to the government. The commission had, in an earlier decision, absolved a second hospital where the patient was later treated from any responsibility in causing the death.
Meanwhile, the Al-Madinah newspaper reported that the Medical Authority in the Makkah region has fined an expatriate doctor, who caused the paralysis of a child brought to the hospital following a car accident, SR3,000. The boy was injured in his spinal cord and at the hospital, his situation became worse.
Awad Al-Malki, the boy’s father, told Al-Madinah newspaper that he is unhappy with the decision and said he is now lodging a complaint with the Health Ministry. Al-Malki added that he has been following up on the case for the past three years and that the Medical Authority took the decision based on a testimony given by the doctor rather than investigating his son’s medical reports.
“He spent two months in the hospital and was not paralyzed. He then became worse and they didn’t carry out any checkups on him. The hospital also tried to hide the files,” the father said.
