Health Affairs starts malpractice probe

The Health Affairs Department in Madinah is currently investigating an alleged medical mistake that caused the death of a Saudi woman in a private hospital in the city, Makkah newspaper reported quoting informed sources.
The department banned doctors and other members of the medical team that treated Basmah Kurdi from traveling until the investigations are over.

The woman’s mother accused doctors at the hospital of not making a correct diagnosis of her daughter’s illness.

She said her daughter had stones in the gallbladder, kidney troubles and problems in the heart.

The mother said she took her daughter to the emergency room of Al-Ansar Hospital after she started vomiting.

“They examined her, gave her sedatives and asked her to come the next day for an ultrasound scan,” she said.

The mother said the ultrasound scan confirmed stones in the gallbladder and the treating doctor asked her daughter to come after two weeks for an operation.

“The following day, my daughter’s condition worsened and I took her to King Fahd Hospital where they said the diagnosis was not correct and that there were no stones,” she aid.

The mother said the hospital refused to admit or treat her daughter so she took her again to Al-Ansar Hospital where they confirmed the existence of the stones.

“The hospital confined her for a week during which she was given medicines. They discharged her and asked her to come again in two weeks for the surgery,” she said.

The mother said her daughter continued to vomit so she took her to another private hospital where she was operated on and the doctor told them that the operation was successful.

She said a day after she was discharged from the hospital she started vomiting again and she took her to Uhud Hospital, which advised her to take her daughter to King Fahd Hospital because of the seriousness of her condition.

“Before we made it to King Fahd hospital my daughter died,” she said.