The Sharia Medical Commission has fined a hospital and two doctors SR250,000 for medical negligence. An expat, known only by his initials as ‘FS,' said his pregnant wife was advised during a routine check up that her fetus was a “little fat”. The examining doctor advised her to increase her walking exercises to ease her imminent delivery. However, after just three days she developed a pain under the navel and her baby movement slowed considerably, according to a report in Al-Watan newspaper. The couple returned to the hospital out of grave concern for the baby. After conducting an uterus ultrasonography the two attending doctors informed them that the umbilical cord had wrapped around the baby's neck. A cesarean section was deemed essential to save the baby. However, instead of attending to the situation the female gynecologist and male surgeon of left the pregnant wife lying in the bed for more than one hour. The newborn baby girl developed medical complications and went into an irreversible coma. FS felt so aggrieved he immediately sent an official letter to the commission accusing the doctors of negligence. He relinquished his private right in order to make the hospital cover the medical expenses of her treatment in the ICU. Muhammad Al-Ajari, head of the Sharia Medical Commission, said the commission found that the two doctors guilty as charged and fined each of them SR100,000. He also fined the hospital SR50,000 and approved the relinquishment of the private right as requested by the plaintiff.
