Badawood: Doctors are human after all

JEDDAH: Medical errors are not confined to Saudi Arabia, said Sami Badawood, director of Health Affairs in Jeddah, adding that in the United States of America nearly 190, 000 people die every year due to medical errors, while in Europe the rate of deaths is up from 10 to 12 percent because of medical errors.
Badawood made these statements in response to the charges made by Ranim Haddad’s father against the Ministry of Health, regarding the death of his daughter in the aftermath of a brain surgery that left her in coma.
“Dr. Tariq Linjawi said that the child was brain dead more than three weeks ago and was suffering from a big malignant brain tumor,” said Badawood.
He said that medical errors happen as doctors are humans and prone to making mistakes. However, some errors are genuine mistakes while others are not. If the medical error is due to the doctor’s negligence, then he or she must be punished.
“There are two causes for error; one related to the person in charge, while the other is due to the hospital administration and the latter results in shutting down the hospital, as was the case with Erfan Hospital,” he said.
He also emphasized the fact that health officials must consolidate their efforts and work together to reduce the rate of deaths due to negligence and medical errors. “Severe procedures and penalties must be established in this regard,” he added.