JEDDAH, 27 April 2006 — A seven-year-old girl, who underwent an appendectomy on March 3 and returned to emergency care a month later due to a forgotten surgical swab that festered in her abdomen, died from the apparent surgical mistake, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported yesterday.
Razan Alwani, the daughter of a police sergeant in the Farasan Islands, was taken to a local hospital when she showed signs of severe illness. Doctors there discovered the surgical swab and the girl underwent a six-hour emergency surgery.
After two days in the hospital, Razan showed signs of improvement and doctors were hopeful that she would be ready for another operation in two weeks.
However by Sunday night there was an unexpected reverse in her condition. She was transferred back to the emergency ward where she died from septic shock.
“But the real cause was intestinal infection developed owing to the negligence durimg the appendectomy,” Razan’s father Adil said.
The surgical team is under investigation.
