RIYADH — The Shariah Medical Committee has forced a private medical center to pay a compensation of SR30,000 as a result of a medical error. The medical center, which specializes in dentistry, removed a female patient's molar tooth by mistake. However, the medical center refuses to pay the victim and has not responded to the plea of the victim's family for the past seven years, an Arabic daily reported. The medical center also states that the responsible medical staff has already left long back. Cases on medical errors by dentists has sparked worldwide debate. A citizen has demanded that the dentist's tooth be extracted based on the Qur'anic verse “A tooth for a tooth." Another citizen, Imad Al-Zahrani, also suffered the same fate at the hands of a dentist. He said a dentist in a private clinic in Unaizah governorate, Al-Qassim region removed the wrong tooth and during the extraction his gums were seriously infected and bled profusely, adding that he was about to lose his life because of the doctor's medical negligence. — SG
