JEDDAH, 5 August — A Saudi woman has been in a coma since she underwent an operation to correct her sine curve (sinusoid) at a private hospital in Jeddah six months ago. In a complaint to health authorities, her husband said the complication was caused by a high dose of anesthetic.
The legal medical committee under the Health Ministry will decide on the case in October. In the meantime, the hospital authorities have asked Musfir Al-Mahmadi to either withdraw his complaint or pay SR150,000 in hospital bills.
Al-Mahmadi urged the Health Ministry to force the hospital to bear the woman’s treatment costs and pay compensation for endangering his wife’s life.
Dr. Talal Ikram, health director in Jeddah, said the Health Ministry bars doctors accused of malpractice from leaving the Kingdom until investigations into cases involving them are completed and a verdict is given by the legal medical committee. He said the hospital must provide the necessary treatment to the woman as per Saudi regulations until the medical committee takes a decision.
Al-Mahmadi said the hospital’s ENT doctor told him that the operation for sinusoid was simple and would not take more than two hours. “But during the operation she regained consciousness,” he explained.
Doctors immediately called the anesthetist who gave the woman an additional dose. “This stopped her respiratory system and she drifted into coma,” Al-Mahmadi told Arab News. Since then there is no improvement in her condition, he added.
The woman was transferred to King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah from the private hospital last month.
