DAMMAM, 3 June 2007 — The family of a man in coma, who died 13 days after being hit in a car accident, allege doctors took the man off the life support machine he was on without their permission and that there was a chance of him recovering.
The mother of Faisal Ali Al-Hobaily, 24, who was on a life support machine at a government hospital in Dammam, said a doctor asked Al-Hobaily’s brother to sign a form consenting to donating his organs as he would be taken off a life-support machine.
She added that on hearing this she visited the hospital the next day to ask them not to remove the life-support machine but by that time Al-Hobaily had already been taken off the machine and died.
The 24-year-old was admitted to hospital after having been hit by a car in the Etisalat district of Dammam two weeks ago. His mother said hospital authorities did not even inform her of his death and would not keep her abreast of his deteriorating condition.
She believes that if the 24-year-old was left on the machine for one more month then he could have survived. The woman is now calling for negligent doctors to be punished, Al-Yaum reported yesterday.
