YANBU, 21 August 2007 — In a new development in the case of Fateema Al-Refaie, the 33-year-old Saudi asthma sufferer who was allegedly administered a banned antibiotic, a specialist doctor invited by the Yanbu General Hospital to check on her case has officially declared her brain-dead.
Fateema was brought to the hospital on Aug. 3 suffering from an asthma attack and was administered the allegedly banned drug. She was left brain-dead after her heart and respiratory system stopped.
Eid Al-Refaie, brother of Fateema, said that the Yanbu General Hospital sent an urgent fax message to a specialist hospital in the city to send an expert to examine his sister.
Eid told Arab News that he paid SR400 for Dr. Yaser Redwan, a heart consultant at Erfan and Saiedi General Hospital in Yanbu, for the consultancy and that he brought the doctor to the hospital in his own car.
He added that the doctor examined his sister and changed some of the medicines she was being given. He also said that the doctor wrote a detailed medical report about the case.
“The doctor told the manager of the hospital, Dr. Essam Al-Subyani, that he personally believes that my sister was brain-dead according to the r,” said Eid, adding that Dr. Redwan reported that his sister’s heart stopped after she was injected with an antibiotic that she was sensitive to.
Dr. Redwan also said that there was a delay in reviving Fateema’s heart and that he does not know the reason behind this delay. This resulted in brain atrophy that later left the woman brain dead.
Dr. Redwan blamed the doctor, who administered the drug at Yanbu General Hospital, for Fateema’s condition and said he did not test to see whether the 33-year-old was sensitive to the medicine. This caused her heart to stop and oxygen not reaching her brain.
Regarding the issue of whether the drug has been banned by the Health Ministry, Dr. Redwan said he was unaware of this and that a pharmacist needed to be consulted.
There was a contradicting report issued from the Chest Diseases Clinic and the Neurological Clinic at Yanbu General Hospital. The report from the Chest Diseases Clinic stated that the patient was given the right medicine and then went into a sudden coma. The report did not state the relation between the coma and the medicine Fateema was administered.
In relation to this, a neurology specialist at the same hospital stated that the patient went into coma because of the injection she was given.
Meanwhile, a scheduled operation to revive Fateema’s lungs was canceled yesterday because she had high fever.
Adel Sharaf, Health Affairs spokesman in Madinah, said that General Manager of Health Affairs in Madinah Dr. Sahl Salama has transferred a complaint by Fateema’s family to a special committee for review.
He said the Health Affairs in Madinah is eager to provide the best service to patients and that if a medical mistake was proven then action would be taken against those responsible.
He also denied that the patient is brain dead saying that she is unconscious and is being helped to breathe with artificial respirators.
Sharaf said all her vital organs are working and improving according to reports and denied that the Health Ministry had banned the medicine in question.
He also said that the patient was given the same medicine before and no complications were reported then and that the special committee is the only body that can determine whether Fateema is brain dead or not.
However, according to Eid, the drug has been banned by the Health Ministry and was given in spite of a memo warning against its use.
In a previous report in Arab News, Eid has alleged that his sister’s doctor had left the Kingdom. However, this allegation has been refuted by the Health Ministry.
