JEDDAH: The head of a legal committee investigating the case of a man who has been in a coma for two months following a medical mistake while undergoing an operation for a twisted ankle said the committee would look into the case only after the summer break.
“Cases at the legal committee are confidential and we can tell you nothing until the judgment is announced,” said the committee’s head Dr. Habib Mirza. He added that investigations have not been called off.
Hassan Al-Harithy, 47, a Saudi father of five, fell into a coma after undergoing surgery on an ankle he twisted while playing football. Despite telling a doctor that he has high blood pressure and a blockage in an artery, he was assured that the surgery was too minor to affect him.
Al-Harithy’s family has now created for him a Facebook group, which has over 1,900 supporters, many of whom have shared details of other instances of medical malpractice. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=21934306890
“During the surgery, his blood pressure went low and we were told that he had a reaction and his heart stopped for a while, but they revived him and that he was doing fine,” wrote Hassan’s sister, Wafa Al-Harithy on Facebook.
“Hours later, he didn’t get better and they said he went into a coma, but refused to explain why or admit it was a medical mistake. We only knew that (it was a mistake) after an independent team of doctors from other hospitals saw the reports,” she added.
Wafa said that a second hospital refused to take the 47-year-old on the grounds that he would stay there for a long time and that they could not provide better health care than the original hospital.
The Ministry of Health carried out an independent investigation after the family filed an official complaint.
“But despite telling us that their investigative committee confirmed that what had happened to Hassan Al-Harithy was a 100 percent medical error, we are still, sadly, waiting for their verdict, which will be in two months’ time, as they have stated, because of the summer holidays,” she said, adding, “And they refused to give us Hassan’s independent medical report before the scheduled verdict.”
